


Diatomee

by Beryll (Rynthjan)



Series: Sir Yaden [17]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Multi, Psychics, Space Battles, Violence, diatomee, phoenix empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-01 04:07:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4005286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynthjan/pseuds/Beryll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After extensive study of the jumpgate data stolen from the Calarni, the science division in the Emperor's employ is ready for a test. Using one of the 'long distance codes' they have discovered, they are sending Sir Yaden and his team on a mission of exploration to uncharted worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Memprime for beta!

Part 1

"Dead? What do you mean, he is dead?!"

The pure outrage in Ivan's voice made Yaden congratulate himself on waiting until they got home to the island to tell his friend the news. Though he wondered if maybe he should have taken Ivan out to the training island so he could safely vent his rage.

"He can't be dead!"

Ivan's eyes had a terrible glow and Yaden could sense that his control over his powers was slipping. Something that only very rarely happened. 

"I… I never got to tell him what a goddamned, fucking cunt of a bastard asshole he is!"

"I only have the official news." Yaden answered as calmly as possible. "Duke Illan had his involvement with Anita's schemes investigated. Apparently they didn't find any connection, but plenty of other shady business. Your father was executed on charges of conspiring against the Duke. And tax evasion…"

Yaden watched as Ivan closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose, fighting down his rage. Slowly the air around his body lost its superheated shimmer.

He knew that Ivan hated his father, but he rarely talked about his past and even more rarely about his feelings for his family. Ivan considered these things over and buried and Yaden tried to respect his wishes. He'd known the news would disturb that peace and Ivan's reaction was pretty much what he had expected, both in severity as in how Ivan fought to keep control. 

"Fuck." Ivan muttered finally. "How did he die?"

"Public beheading." Yaden shrugged. "Unceremoniously killed off with a whole bunch of common criminals."

That made Ivan laugh harshly. "That is so Uncle Illan. No unnecessary expenses."

"The family assets were seized." Yaden related his last bit of news. "Used to pay of at least a tiny portion of the new ducal palace."

Yaden hadn't kept close taps on the progress of the rebuilding of the ducal palace on Yaiciz, but he was sure it was fast, efficient and cheap. Any other way would have annoyed Duke Illan and led to a quick death for whoever was responsible.

"Not like I would ever have inherited any of it anyway." Ivan sighed and then rubbed his face. "Fuck." He repeated more heartfelt. "This just… sucks. I… had this idea, that someday I would face him and he'd see how well I am, what I have become. And he'd choke on the fact that he sold me off. And now he's just… dead. It feels so anticlimactic."

Yaden nodded. "It does. But if it's any consolation - I'm sure he was aware of what has become of you and has spent plenty of time cursing your trainers who didn't figure out how to make you work."

Ivan's face turned into a disgusted grimace. "Yeah, you're right of course. He'd never look at himself to find fault." 

"Do you need to burn something?" Yaden offered. "Should I tell Colin we'll be a little late for dinner?"

"Bah, do I look suicidal to you?" Ivan laughed, slowly recovering his cheer. "Maybe after dinner?"

"Anytime."

Together they made their way up the path to the cottages. They had spent all day at the Phoenix Knight Tower. Coming home to the island was a soothing as ever. The sun was hanging low already, slanting through the palm trees, painting patterns on the path, the sound of the sea was a constant whisper along with birds chirping excitedly. Still Yaden's mind refused to settle like it normally did when he returned home.

"So is that what the meeting was all about?" Ivan asked.

While Ivan had followed his normal study program, Yaden had been stuck behind closed doors. "No." He answered and then lapsed into silence. 

He still wasn't sure what to do with the plans he had been presented with by Commander Li Ma and a whole bunch of scientists, headed by Doctor Heganski. Yaden had never met the thin, grim woman before, but apparently she was the head of a top secret research team which worked directly for the Emperor.

After extensive study of the huge data dump they had brought from the Calarni they had done some preliminary tests on using the long distance function of jumpgates which apparently allowed travel from one galaxy to another. Now the Doctor wanted to send an explorer through. It sounded fascinating enough, going to such a distant place. Only Yaden had done that once already and he didn't fancy getting stuck in a different galaxy once more with no way of getting home. The scientists assured him that they were able to reliably open the same gateway. That they had even managed to retrieve a probe they had sent through. Still Yaden's instinct assured him that something would go critically wrong as soon as they sent him through.

Then there was the fact that the N'Bosoti seemed to become more and more active and Yaden very much wanted to be there to face their threat, instead of going off on a wild adventure elsewhere. That was also the main point Commander Li Ma had brought up against whole idea.

Which was really the crux of the matter - he had not been presented with orders for a new mission, he had been in a meeting planning a possible new mission, asked for his advice since he and Ivan were the only ones who had ever done anything like it. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with that. He liked being presented with a job and then doing it to the best of his ability. 

"So what was it about, then?" Ivan prodded.

"Our next mission. Maybe." Yaden answered truthfully. "I'm not sure we're going to take it."

"Oh? I didn't know we even had the option to decline." Ivan joked, but then he noticed how serious Yaden was and frowned. "Are you going to tell me?"

"Yes. But I need to talk to Colin, too." He smiled at Ivan's puzzled expression. "I'm going to explain over dinner. We'll have a proper family meeting to discuss it."

Actually Colin was the person he most needed to talk to. He just couldn't see his husband agreeing to let him go off into the unknown to maybe again be lost for a month, a year or forever. And even should Colin agree, Yaden wouldn't. He might survive being parted from Colin again that long, but he would not manage to keep his sanity intact.

They reached the cottages and Ivan was immediately bowled over by Vian, who moved at an amazing speed on all fours. Knowing his duties, Ivan picked up the boy and threw him high in the air which was accompanied by Vian's happy screeches. It distracted Ivan enough that Yaden could slip away. He needed to smell his lover to calm his mind.

Myriam was sitting at the dinner table in the yard, intently studying something on her notepad with Siva sitting in her lap, just as intently studying the tip of her tail which she held firmly in her tiny hands. What her brother had in excessive energy, she had in calm patience.

Yaden didn't bother disturbing either of them, but went right into the kitchen. He found Colin and Darren, putting the finishing touches on dinner. Darren was mixing a bowl of cold pasta salad while Colin was cutting up bread. A huge slap of roast meat sat on a wooden board, resting, before it would be served in a few minutes. 

Tonight family dinner would not include their servants like it usually did. Colin insisted on Miss Eve and her son taking at least four nights a month off so they could spend some time of their own and lately they usually took Shawn along. A quiet relationship seemed to be growing between the stern housekeeper and the groundskeeper slave, which both Yaden and Colin watched with fond approval. Yaden was happy about their absence. It would allow him to speak freely of the mission plans.

"Hey love, dinner will be ready in a minute!" Colin greeted him cheerfully and exchanged a quick kiss with Yaden. 

His mere presence was enough to put things into perspective and make up his mind. There was no way in hell Yaden would leave him again for a potentially so lengthy assignment. He'd still share the news. After, all he had promised to do so.

"Can you convince our brainiac to abandon her studies for a little while so she can set the table?" Colin pleaded.

The more Myriam studied, there more hooked she seemed to become. There was always another, even more advanced book or arcane tome she absolutely had to read right now. Yaden was ridiculously proud of her while Colin complained occasionally that she should spend more time hanging out with kids of her own age, doing kids stuff. He knew she had tried and failed miserably, so he kept his grumbling to a minimum. 

It wasn't just that other teenager just couldn't relate to what it was like to have powers like her own, she also was too smart. When she was interacting with her trainers and teachers at the Tower she was happy, confident and chatty. When she was supposed to talk to normal kids she clammed up - which was still vastly preferable to her reaction when she had volunteered to meet with some students of the Imperial City Psions Guild academy. That had been a disaster which had lucky only ended with her crying and one of the students being severely reprimanded instead of the dumb little shit's fiery demise.

Yaden had no doubt that eventually she would find friends who were just as different as she was. In a universe as vast and strange as the one they lived in, it was inevitable. He had managed to find love and friends, so his daughter would as well. There was no point in trying to hurry it along. Colin was a little less patient, but that was just an expression of his love.

"I'll set the table." He offered with a smile and started gathering plates and cutlery from the cupboard.

He was soon joined by Ivan, who was still trailed by a happily babbling Vian. The twins still didn't speak any words, but that didn't keep Vian from being very vocal. With so many hands helping, the table was quickly filled with dishes and food. The smell of food right next to her finally managed to divert Myriam's attention from her reading to her family. Yaden and Ivan fell on their dinner like hungry wolves and conversation was halted until they emerged from their feeding frenzy.

Only when they had reduced the roast nearly to the bare bone, did Yaden lean back and laid out the mission plans as Doctor Heganski had explained them to him.

Myriam was the first to react and it wasn't at all what Yaden had expected.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed, beaming widely. "I was wondering when they'd finally get the nerve to ask you."

"You've known about this?" Yaden asked his daughter incredulously.

He knew that Myriam studied all sorts of weird stuff, but that she was involved in top secret and potentially dangerous projects that weren't strictly Phoenix Knight business was news to him.

"Uh…" She sheepishly scratched her neck in a gesture which Yaden recognized as copied from Ivan. "I was bored. There was math. Lots of awesome math. They needed someone to help with data input… It kind of happened."

"Right…" He probably shouldn't even have been surprised. After all Myriam had her heart firmly set on becoming a Phoenix Knight herself one day. Which including poking her curious nose everywhere. 

"So when are we going?" She now asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

"We are not." Yaden answered just as quickly. After all he had already made up his mind about the matter.

Myriam misunderstood his meaning, though. "Dad!" she whined. "You can't leave me! I've studied this crap! I know how the codes work! I've even learned how to manually reset a jumpgate! You can't possibly go without me! What if something goes wrong? You'll need me!"

Yaden blinked at her barrage of words. Then he raised his hands placating. "No, I mean none of us are going." He explained. "The risk is too high." He glanced over at Colin and found his husband not looking quite as outraged at the whole idea as he had expected. "I'm not leaving my family behind again." He added. "What if we can't find a way back?"

"But you risk your life every time you go on a mission." Myriam argued, clearly unwilling to let the matter drop.

"Yes, but there is a difference between risking my life to protect innocent citizens of the Empire and going of on a wild adventure of exploration to satisfy the R&D team's curiosity which might possibly strand me in a different galaxy forever." Yaden answered.

"But… but we could find vitally important things!" Myriam searched for arguments in her favour. "We might find something that will help us defeat the bugs!"

Yaden drew breath to answer that, but Colin was quicker. "We could all go." He offered calmly and reached out to take Yaden's hand. "That's why we had Pebble remodelled to be a second home to us in the first place, isn't it?" He added at Yaden's incredulous silence.

It was an option which hadn't even crossed Yaden's mind. To be parted from Colin had been his main concern. But there really was no good reason why his husband shouldn't accompany him. "What about the kids…?" He asked a little helplessly, already more than half convinced.

"Obviously I'd have to come too, if the kids are coming." Darren answered that question. "Just don't expect me to do any heroic deeds in my old age." He was smiling fondly, apparently quite on board with the idea.

"Ivan? What do you think?" Yaden asked his squire last, even though the grin on Ivan's face already told him the answer.

"I'll follow you into hell, boss."


	2. Chapter 2

"Energy levels are stable. Two minutes until activation."

"Acknowledged." Myriam calmly answered the monotone voice of the scientist who was working the communications console on the 'Wayward 14'.

Both Yaden and Ivan had been surprised to learn that the system where they had been kicked to another galaxy was now home to a research station, crewed with a wild bunch of people. Though it was no proper station, really, but a conglomerate of several ships of various sizes, docked against each other. The cluster of ships hung close to the jumpgate which they were using to test the results for their research in the Calarni data. It made sense, of course, to pick a system with virtually no civilian traffic. After all, it was a top secret project.

That they also had a chance to send forays into the system itself to try and find out more about the solar teleporter was an additional advantage. Yaden had not been briefed on whether they had discovered anything whatsoever in that regard. He was sure he wouldn't hear about it until they decided to test it on him.

Right now, they were getting ready for their trip into the unknown. The jumpgate was powering up for the long distance jump. It was a lengthy procedure. After they had arrived in the system, a flock of scientists had come over to the Pebble to install additional sensors and a whole battery of probes which they could deploy to gather matter. They had also transferred a ton of data to the computer system which Myriam had pounced on - codes and instructions on how to use jumpgates, she had informed them.

While they waited for the jumpgate to charge up, Yaden and Myriam had been invited over to Wayward 14 for a meeting with Doctor Heganski who had supplied them with a whole checklist of last minute instructions.

But now they were almost ready.

"90 seconds until activation." The scientist's voice droned on.

Yaden looked around the bridge at his family. Colin was right behind him, leaning on the back of the Captain's chair with his arms, curiously watching the front screen.

Ivan was at his familiar spot at the com console.

Myriam was sitting at the second console, which so far had been unoccupied. In the days of his grandfather, it had been used for shields and weapons control, but now it was a mix of navigation, data evaluation and control of the probes.

Darren was standing in the back with Siva on his arm. She was slumbering peacefully, entirely unfazed by the excitement around her.

The same could not be said about Vian, who was bouncing up and down on Yaden's lap, ready to explode with exuberant joy.

To have his whole family with him grounded Yaden. He wasn't worried. Whatever went wrong - and he was sure something would go wrong - they'd be prepared to face it.

"60 seconds until activation."

"I hope I turned off the stove at home." Colin commented with a cheeky smirk.

Yaden took his hand and kissed his husband's knuckles. Together they listened to the scientist count down to zero.

"Jumpgate activating now." Myriam said, eyes glued to her readouts.

The gargantuan circle of the gate didn't do anything unusual. A faint shimmer was visible, but that was all indication that it was active at all.

"Connection is stable." Doctor Heganski's voice came over the com. "Proceed."

Yaden nodded to Ivan, who engaged the Pebble's cloaking. Then Yaden let his senses spread through his beloved spaceship, steel struts became his bones, planes of metal his flesh and the crust of stone fused to the outer hull became his skin. His fingers operated the thrust of the engines, but the direction was his own will moving the Pebble. When he had flown her in battle against the Calarni, he had learned how much easier it was to fly her with his feet. Controls were for people who could not fuse with their ship - he became Pebble.

Despite her bulk, she smoothly moved forward and entered the shimmering field of the jumpgate.

The jump felt the same as the one Yaden and Ivan had taken back from the Calarni galaxy. While a normal jump was so quick it barely registered and a teleport was only a brief blink of feeling connected to the psion who executed it, this felt slightly strange, like being stretched thin.

Emerging felt like snapping back into place.

"WOAH!" Ivan exclaimed.

The other side didn't look quite like the footage Yaden had seen from the probe, which had been sent through and been retrieved before.

What had been mostly empty space at the edge of a star system was now crowded with spaceships, clustered around the gate. Yaden immediately ducked the Pebble away, skimming over the quickly dissipating surface of the inner field of the gate and then speeding away, weaving his way between the ships. That they ignored Pebble at least assured him that their cloaking shield was holding up against their sensors.

His first impression of the fleet around the gate was quite intimidating. The space ships of the Phoenix Empire were as varied as their age of commission and builders. Even the imperial fleet was made up of a jumbled mix of everything humanity had dreamt of over the course of centuries. The fleet of the Calarni had been much more impressive since they were coherent in style and technology.

But this was something else.

While the alien ships were of different sizes, they were all uniform in their dimensions of one times two times six. Dull gleaming blocks of grey metal, arrayed with the precision of brutal discipline. And they were bristling with the energy of countless weapon systems, Yaden realized as soon as he cast out his senses to get a better idea of what they were facing. The smallest ones were about twice the size of Pebble while the largest vessels dwarfed them completely with a length of nearly a kilometre.

Yaden quickly moved them through and away from so much firepower.

"I have something on the com here…" Ivan said

"In the name of His Holy Magnificence, the God Emperor of Terra, this infernal artefact is hereby condemned!" A cold, precise voice filled the bridge.

Yaden had a brief moment to wonder at the fact that the voice had spoken in weirdly accented Imperial, then the large vessels of the fleet opened fire on the jumpgate.

That was of course a ridiculous endeavour. The gates were indestructible. Any and all attempts to damage one had met with a complete lack of success.

"What the…?" Myriam muttered suddenly.

Yaden sensed it as well. The energy beams the attackers used were alien to him, coloured a deep blue. They were focused on a point in front of the gate, where they met. But instead of dissipating, they charged up an expanding sphere of pure, destructive power.

"For the GOD EMPEROR!" A different voice roared over the com, this one full of mad conviction.

One of the smaller ships accelerated and flew straight into the sphere.

The resulting explosion blinded them and the energy backlash momentarily stunned Yaden, even though Pebble was safely out of the blast radius.

"Holy shit…" Ivan summed up how all of them felt as their eyes recovered and they stared at the view screen.

Where the enormous circle of the jumpgate had been, debris floated in space, bluish energy still crackling on some of them.

"THY WILL IS DONE!" The cold voice intoned over the com and then the bridge was flooded with the most pompous piece of orchestral music Yaden had ever heard, blasting at top volume.

"Fucking hell!" Ivan cursed and cut off the channel.

For a long moment they all stared at the arrayed fleet, which held their positions, weapons still fully charged, apparently waiting whether something would answer their attack. When nothing happened, they changed formation with a smoothness which spoke of years of practice. Once more Yaden blinked in consternation as each of the ships activated a kind of energy beam, projecting shimmering portals in front of them and then flying through, disappearing from the screen and their scanners.

Merely a few minutes later, the whole fleet was gone and only the drifting chunks of the jumpgate remained.

"Right." Yaden finally said. "On a scale of 1 to 10 of weird things to happen that might strand us here that rates at an 8."

"Seriously?" Myriam's voice held a note of hysteria.

Ivan shrugged. "Gotta leave some room upward." He commented calmly.

Yaden took a moment to rub his face. He had expected something to go wrong, but this was a bit too instant even for him to adapt to. Especially since the sudden lack of a jumpgate didn't just strand them here, wherever here actually was, it also stranded them in this system since they didn't have the jump capabilities which seemed to be common place on ships around here.

"They spoke Imperial." Colin suddenly chimed in, reminding Yaden of just how weird the whole thing really was.

"Did we get any life form signatures from their ships?" Yaden asked.

Both Ivan and Myriam checked their consoles. "Human." Ivan then answered. "The fuck…?"

Myriam was typing furiously. "As far as I can see we are exactly where we meant to go." She muttered.

"He did say 'god emperor of Terra'." Colin supplied helpfully.

"Maybe someone figured out how to use the jumpgates for long distance travel before and humans colonized this galaxy way back?" Myriam mused. "But then why aren't they using the gates? They called it an infernal artefact… And Terra is in our galaxy… This makes no sense…"

"What the fuck do we do now?" Ivan asked.

An excellent question. The fleet of the terran god emperor had left completely, not leaving even a single ship behind to guard the destroyed jumpgate. They might have entered the system and made their way to the habitable zone, jumped to a different system or even another galaxy, they had no way of telling. If they headed towards the sun of this system they might find a settled planet and some more intel. On the other hand, someone else might show up here at the debris of the jumpgate who they could approach. But those really were their only options.

At least Yaden was quite sure that the Terrans were not people he wanted to interact with if he could find an alternative.

He was still trying to come to a decision when Ivan spoke up again. "Incoming. Four small ships. From the size I'd guess spacefighters."

Since they were still too far away to provide visuals, they appeared on the view screen as small dots, approaching from the core of the system.

"They appear to be using some sort of cloaking of their own, my readings are a bit muddled." Ivan said.

Yaden spread out his senses towards the small crafts. While they might be cloaked by technical means, to him they shone like bright sparks. He had no idea what kind of metal they were built from, but it glittered in his mind and touching them tickled like touching a livewire with a very low current running through it. It was pleasant and he found himself drawn in by how malleable and plain friendly it felt. It took him a moment to realize while it was familiar in a way - it was the complete opposite of the material used by the N'Bosoti.

"Don't nail me to it, but I think that's Nosoti tech." He said full of wonderment.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you think they can see us?" Ivan asked, his voice low as if they might be overheard if he spoke too loudly.

Yaden was as unsure as Ivan and Myriam, who closely monitored the four fighter ships with their mundane scanners. The only really useful info they had gotten from their scanners was that the life signs of the pilots didn't belong to humans, but to different species of aliens none of which were in their database. Yaden himself kept close tabs on them with his powers, monitoring their energy levels. Their weapon systems were active, but that might just be a precaution, as they were slowly weaving through the drifting debris of the jumpgate. One of them was hanging back, though. It might just be keeping watch for new arrivals or it might be looking straight at the cloaked Pebble, Yaden had no way of telling.

"I don't know." Yaden muttered.

The cloaking of the fighters wasn't as good as that of the Pebble, but that didn't mean their scanners weren't better. Nearly half an hour had passed since they had arrived. Colin had left the bridge with Darren in tow to prepare some sort of lunch. Standing around and waiting was making him jumpy.

It really was time to make up his mind on whether they were going to reveal themselves or not, Yaden thought.

"Mroah!" Vian exclaimed in Yaden's lap and excitedly pointed at the dots on the screen which represented the ships. He had been surprisingly calm and patient so far.

Yaden smiled down at his son and fondly stroked the silky fur on his head. "You think we should talk to them?"

Ivan took the question as addressed to him. "Dunno. Even though they are using Nosoti tech, they might still be sick psychos. Those seem to be in good supply around here."

"Maybe we should fly out a bit, uncloak and then come back all visible." Myriam suggested. "So they don't feel stalked or something."

Yaden considered that for a moment, but then shook his head. "Let's just see how they react. If they are going to shoot at us they'll do it either way. Uncloak us and give me a com broadcast."

"Luckily we are even more indestructible than a jumpgate, eh?" Ivan grumbled sarcastically, but he obediently switched off Pebble's cloaking.

The reaction from the fighters was instant and reassured Yaden that so far they had not been detected. All four of them turned on Pebble like a pack of angry predators.

Yaden realized that he wasn't quite sure how to address them, but he decided to just plunge ahead. "Hello there, cloaked ships." He said, trying to sound as calm and confident as possible. "This is the Pebble speaking. We are not hostile."

He could only hope that the ships' pilots would be able to understand him. They had monitored com channels and caught plenty of beeping going back and forth between the fighters. The channel they were using was heavily encrypted and so far, Myriam hadn't managed to break the code. Now that beeping rose to a furious level as the fighters apparently discussed how to react. At least they didn't immediately open fire, even though the weapon systems were now all pointed at Pebble.

"We are stranded in this system and require assistance." Yaden continued, even though Ivan scowled at this confession. Never admit a weakness was one of his iron rules.

After another brief exchange between two of the fighters, one of them uncloaked. The first visual of it small craft made Yaden grin. It looked just like it felt to him, sparkling silver, sleek, beautiful and deadly.

The voice which came over the com was a rumbling growl with a hint of aggressive snarl. "This is Quicksilver leader Sarisha speaking. Who the fuck are you?"

There really was no point in coming up with some elaborate cover story. After all they didn't have anything to hide. "My name is Yaden. We came through the jumpgate." Yaden introduced them. "Ran into some really nasty people calling themselves Terrans on this side, who promptly blew up our way home."

"Well, anybody not friends with the Terrans can't be all bad." The alien on the other end commented with clear disgust. "Wait, what?" It then asked. "You came through the what?"

"Jumpgate." Yaden repeated. "The huge circle thing the Terrans just destroyed."

There was a brief pause in the conversation as the encrypted channel chattered to life again. "You are telling me those things actually do something?" The voice then asked incredulously.

Considering these people all seemed to have some sort of interstellar travel build into their ships, it was no small surprise they had no interest in the gargantuan artefacts which hung at the edge of space systems. But the choice of words made it sound like there were other jumpgates in this galaxy, which was quite a relief. If this had been the only one, it would have made it damn near impossible to ever get home.

"Yes, we use them to travel from star system to star system." Yaden explained. "Or in this case, from galaxy to galaxy."

"Isn't that totally inconvenient?" Another voice chimed in, this one high pitched and chirping. "You'd always have to travel to the edge of a system!"

"Damn it, Vio, I told you to keep radio silence!" Sarisha immediately admonished.

"Jees, Sarisha, lighten up." The chirping voice replied, entirely unfazed. "They obviously can detect us and aren't hostile. This is totally fascinating! You really come from another galaxy?"

The cheer in Vio's voice was infectious and Yaden couldn't help but smile. "Yes, we do." He answered. "And yes, it is rather inconvenient, especially since we have no jump capabilities like your ships seem to have. Hence we are kind of stuck here. You didn't strike us as insane as those Terrans, so we hoped you might be able to help us…"

"Well, we could…" A third voice joined the conversation, this one deep and rumbling like stones rubbing against each other.

"DAMN IT!" Sarisha exclaimed. "RADIO SILENCE! Do you need written instructions on what that means?! They could be Terrans themselves for all that we know!"

Yaden watched as Ivan desperately held his hand before his mouth not to laugh out loud. He was grinning himself and was quite grateful they only had audio contact.

"Don't be ridiculous." Vio argued back. "Terrans wouldn't be caught dead in a flying rock like that!"

While their fighters were all of the exact same make, it was becoming pretty obvious that these were probably not members of any military force. Their complete lack of discipline and respect made that clear.

"Actually, I should warn you that we are indeed humans." Yaden quickly injected, before their potential new friends could descent into bickering. "But we have never met these Terrans before."

"Say, if you are from another galaxy and have never met any Terrans, how come you speak Terran Standard?" Vio asked curiously.

Yaden just got to open his mouth before this time he got interrupted by Myriam. "We call it Imperial and it absolutely freaks me out that you speak the same language we do! As far as we know we've never had contact with this galaxy."

Yaden didn't even bother frowning at her. In fact, it was probably good that the aliens could see they were not some sort of military vessel either. Sarisha apparently had the same thought. Her growl was accompanied by a throaty chuckle when she spoke.

"Maybe we should figure out how we can tow your Pebble home with us and than you can continue discussing all of these utterly fascinating things face to face." She suggested.

"So you're not from this system?" Yaden asked.

"Nope, we were just investigating why the Terrans had such a huge fleet out here at the butt end of nowhere." Sarisha answered. "Anything that annoys them is usually sure to please us."

Yaden would have loved to ask more questions about the Terrans, whatever faction Sarisha and here friends belonged to and what else was going on in this galaxy, but he kept his curiosity in check. There would be plenty of time for that once they were in a less exposed place. After all, the Terrans could at any moment decide to come back.

"As I was going to say earlier," the gravelly voice spoke up again, "we could just clamp onto the Pebble, like we do when we haul home salvage. She looks sturdy enough. Then we sync up our jumpdrives to project a bigger portal and drag her through."

"Do you have a jumpgate in your system?" Myriam chimed in again.

"I actually have no idea…" Sarisha was the first to answer, but she was immediately interrupted by Vio again.

"Yeah, we do. Really, Sarisha? You don't know that?" She mocked cheerfully.

Sarisha answered with a derisive huff. "What? If I can't eat it or shoot it, it can kiss my furry ass."

Listening to their friendly bickering was quite reassuring, Yaden thought. They might be aliens, but they sure sounded like people they would get along with.

"Do we need to do anything for you to grab us?" he asked.

"If you have any defensive measures on the hull which would fry us to a crisp you may wanna turn them off." The gravely voice suggested.

"Nope, just plain old rock." Yaden replied. He still had a firm grip on Pebble with his powers, but those wouldn't interfere with another ship clamping on to her. He was quite curious how a jump through space would feel with their way of travelling.

"All right, let's do this, girls!" Sarisha ordered calmly.

They watched on the view screen as the smaller crafts smoothly moved into place, one on top of the Pebble, one below, one left and one right. Yaden shut down Pebble's engine, since they wouldn't be moving under their own power anyway and sent Myriam to the kitchen to let Colin and Darren know what was happening. He felt it when the fighters clamped on to Pebble's thick hide like a tickle.

"Linking up jump control to you, Caro." Sarisha said once they had a secure grip.

"All synced up." The gravely voice, apparently Caro, replied a moment later. "Opening portal now."

In front of the Pebble a shimmering energy portal, just like the ones the Terrans had departed through, appeared. Then the fighters revved up their engines and tugged Pebble forward and into the portal.

Yaden expected the same sort of jump they would have experienced with a jumpgate or a teleport. He blinked in surprise when instead of emerging in another star system, the universe went completely black around them and he lost all sense of any matter apart from Pebble and the four fighters.

"Uh…" Ivan said softly. "Is that supposed to happen?"

He and Yaden both jerked in surprise when Sarisha's voice answered over the com. "Yes? What else were you expecting?" Neither of them had thought the com channel would still be working in this weird wherever they were right now.

"Travel through jumpgates is pretty much instantaneous." Yaden answered.

"Oh, that sounds handy!" Vio chirped. "Apart from the needing a jumpgate in the first place, obviously."

"This jump will take about three hours." Caro supplied helpfully. "So just settle in and relax."

"All right. Thank you." Yaden said and then motioned to Ivan to mute the com.

"Did you too notice she is measuring time in 'hours'?" Ivan asked.

Yaden nodded. "There is one hell of a lot of stuff to find out here." He said, not quite able to keep his excited curiosity from his voice. Maybe they were stuck here for a while, but with his family with him and couldn't bring himself to mind. Whatever strangeness awaited them, he was looking forward to it.

"Agreed." Ivan said and grinned. "Lunch now?"


	4. Chapter 4

Diatomee was one of the most beautiful things Yaden had ever seen and he had been around to see quite some amazing things in his life already. The Quicksilver had warned them that their home was actually a space station, but that had in no way prepared them for the actual thing.

Quite nonchalantly drifting right in the middle between two twin suns, at first Yaden didn't register much besides a brilliantly white source of light a few miles ahead. Then, as his eyes got used to the image, he realized that what looked like a miniature sun of its own was actually just the heart of the whole station. Closely woven around that little sun, there were branches from the same material as the little quicksilver fighters, each one as thick as a house. Those branches formed a loose sphere around the sun, gathering at the six axis points like roots forming trees, growing outward from there. After a while, those trees branched out into another concentric sphere, then a third one and ended in stubbly branches that suspiciously looked like docking arrays. But the whole construct spanned easily twenty miles in diameter, so that even though the axis trees were several hundred meters in diameter, the entire thing looked like nested soap bubbles spun from gossamer.

All of that in itself would have been plenty impressive and his family was gawking at the view screen with suitable wonder, but they couldn't see what Yaden did.

The silvery material was the same stuff the fighters of the Quicksilver's were made from. Only where the smaller crafts merely sparkled with a hint of energy, Diatomee felt alive to Yaden like he had so far only encountered with planets. When he stretched out his senses to touch her, it felt like a myriad of tiny sparks of energy were greeting him. Where N'Bosoti materials where void to his touch and almost impossible to grasp, this welcomed him with good cheer and something he could only term curiosity. While planets with their huge mass and age felt slow and dormant to him, the station was wide awake and Yaden had the impression it was as eager for him to actually set foot on her as he felt.

"That is one big ass space station." Ivan commented, in equal measures impressed and laconic.

They had emerged from the jump deep inside the system which had felt rather weird to all of them. The fighters had let go of them and by now they were moving under their own power again towards the station. Yaden was pleased to notice that Pebble was not falling behind the smaller crafts. They were probably not going at top speed but neither was Pebble. Though their crafts seemed more technically advanced in some areas, Pebble seemed better equipped in others, like her scanners and cloaking.

"There must be room for thousands of people on that station." Myriam said with pure awe. She was studying the screen of her console with rapt attention.

"Actually only a very small part of the station is inhabited." Caro's gravely voice came over the com, which they had left open. "Most of it isn't even explored."

That the colourful mix of alien races which apparently made up the Quicksilvers hadn't built the station was no surprise to Yaden. The more time he had to let his senses run along the intricate, beautifully crafted lines of silver the more convinced he became that it had indeed been built by Nosoti. But he had so far assumed that some Nosoti were living on Diatomee and allowed the other aliens to stay as well, much like Lady Beverly lived on Malicorn and generously supplied the planet with her tech.

"Uh… what?" Myriam put his thoughts into a question.

"The station was found a couple of decades ago by Commander Ruffon." Caro explained readily. "His ship had a jumpdrive malfunction and they dropped out of their jump around here. They'd have been stranded and died here if they hadn't stumbled across Diatomee. It was abandoned. So they claimed it for themselves and settled in. Not every day a fully functioning space station drops into your lap."

So they probably had no idea it was Nosoti tech, Yaden thought. How curious.

"The Commander will want to speak to you anyway, once we dock." Sarisha added. "That whole jumpgate thing sounds rather weird, but if the Terrans are interested in it, so are we."

"I'll be happy to talk to him." Yaden said. "We may be human, but right now you folks seem a lot more friendly than those Terrans."

That got a small snicker from several of the Quicksilvers. "Well, I feel we should warn you that most of the people living on Diatomee are criminal scum." Sarisha warned cheerfully. "It's not really a safe place after dark. Or during any day."

Yaden made a mental note not to let Colin or Darren venture out on their own. "Noted." He acknowledged. "We'll be careful."

The docking pylon that had looked like a slender stalk had by now grown into a massive column, but as they were drawing even closer it became a silver wall. The sheer size of the station was simply amazing. The only other Nosoti space station Yaden had ever seen was the Star, Lady Beverly's home, which hung in orbit over Malicorn. It was tiny compared to Diatomee, but just as beautiful.

Yaden had expected that they would dock Pebble at an access hatch, but as they drew near enough, he realized that they would be able to fly her inside the awning opening of a huge hangar. A force field protected the hangar opening, probably keep air inside.

"Can you sync to the force field?" Caro asked over the com. "So you can fly through."

"I have no idea how." Ivan answered. "We don't have stuff like that."

"Right, let me talk to the deck control to see what they can do to let you in." Caro replied unfazed.

The Quicksilver's fighter zipped through the energy curtain easily and disappeared into the cavernous depth of the hangar.

About a minute later Caro's voice spoke up again. "They'll fashion a docking lock for you."

They watched as a second energy field came up a little further inside the hangar. Then the outer one dropped. Yaden carefully eased Pebble into the space between the two fields, steering her with his feet, and then the outer field came back up while the inner one dropped.

There were five other ships parked inside the hangar, all of different sizes and builds. Yaden waited for some sort of information where to put Pebble down, but none came so he asked aloud: "Is there any parking order?"

"Naw, just put her down where she fits." Caro answered.

There was plenty of space so Yaden picked a spot against a hangar wall, close to the entrance. One never knew if a quick escape might become necessary.

"We're coming over to meet you." Caro said and then her end of the com clicked off.

Yaden was itching to get off Pebble and start exploring, but first there were some decisions to be made. He looked over to the back of the bridge where Colin was standing with a mix of intense curiosity and worried frown on his face.

"Ivan and I will go and meet that Commander Ruffon." Yaden said. "Myriam, you stay back here with the family and guard the ship."

Myriam was opening her mouth to object, but Yaden spoke again before she could. "That's non-negotiable. We have no idea what we are getting into here and in a potential combat situation, I want Ivan in my back. Plus I need to know that Colin, Darren and the kids are protected. You'll have plenty of time to explore when we have a clearer idea of this place."

She didn't look happy, but Yaden was incredibly proud of her when she nodded, accepting her orders. "What if someone tries to force their way on board?" She asked.

"Should they manage to get inside, which I very much doubt, you pretend to be a harmless little girl until they aren't looking. Then you fry them to a crisp." Yaden answered calmly.

"If they come into my home they are fucked anyway." Colin added grimly.

Which was entirely true. While Colin might be useless in any regular fight, anyone invading his home would trigger the powers granted to him by his Youh'Kai patron goddess. Yaden went over to his husband with a smile and kissed him.

"Be careful out there." Colin told him sternly.

"We will." Ivan agreed. "Don't worry, I'll safely bring back your precious husband like I always do."

They made their way to Pebble's main hatch and then Yaden was finally able to step onto Diatomee. The moment his feet made contact with the smooth metal of the hangar floor, he felt flooded with the sense of welcome and excitement. She was as happy to meet him as he was to meet her. There was no way to communicate in words, more a rush of emotions and sensations, passing between them. She was old, that much he could immediately tell, maybe older than some planets he had visited, but at the same time she felt young and vital, her spirit quick and awake like no planet he had ever met. It was a bit overwhelming, but not unpleasant at all.

"You are quite short for a human." Sarisha's voice yanked him from his communication with the station.

Yaden looked up and found a group of four aliens walking towards him and Ivan. The one in the lead was a tall, catlike creature with fluffy looking orange fur, large, pointed ears on top of her head and a long tail swinging behind her. She looked lean and graceful like a predator born to run down prey. She wore nothing but a pair of dark brown shorts and a low slung blaster belt. That had to be Sarisha, Yaden surmised.

Behind her came a hulking, humanoid monster of at least three meters in height. It looked like it was made of rock with its gnarly exterior, but Yaden could not sense it so it had to be some sort of extraordinary thick, swarthy skin. Tiny little eyes looked out of deep sockets, it had no nose or other features Yaden could discern. Its only piece of clothing was a belt slung over its shoulder which held the biggest blaster canon Yaden had ever seen.

The thing was followed by a humanoid lizard like creature of about Ivan's height. Its skin was leathery and shiny like a snake's, glittering in greens and blues. It had a think tail with a tip which looked quite sharp and long talons on its fingers. The elongated snout showed long fangs. Where a human would have had hair, it had long, shiny black quills which right now where elegantly sweeping down its back. It was wearing some sort of combat armour of dark leather and metal which looked like it had been fitted perfectly for it. The hilts of two bladed weapons peeked over its shoulders and it wore a blaster as well.

Next to it walked a tiny humanoid, who barely came up to Yaden's hip. She looked very female with lovely curves to her breasts and hips. Her back sported a pair of glittering butterfly wings and on her brow two sets of slender feelers rose through a mass of dark blue curls. She was wearing tight black leather pants, a tiny bikini top and high heeled boots.

"So I am told." Yaden answered Sarisha's greeting with a grin. "I'm Yaden and this is my friend Ivan." He deliberately omitted any kind of title. At best it would be unknown to these aliens, at worst it might have some different, unpleasant meaning.

"I'm Sarisha, leader of the Quicksilver." The big cat in turn introduced herself.

"This is Caro, our techie." She continued, pointing to the huge rocky monster. Caro's face shifted unexpectedly and Yaden realized that she indeed had a mouth and that it came with a surprisingly friendly smile.

"Vio, who's in charge of communications." Sarisha pointed to the winged creature and Yaden thought that her chirping voice fit perfectly with her look.

"And Majan." Sarisha introduced the lizard, who Yaden so far had not heard speak.

"Who's in charge of killing stuff and also my girlfriend." Vio added and possessively wrapped her small hand around Majan's.

The lizard briefly raised their entwined hands to her snout and a long tongue flicked over their knuckles in what Yaden guessed was her form of a kiss. "Do not worry, my love, I am and will always be all yours." Majan said and Yaden was startled by her beautiful, melodic voice. From her looks, he would have expected something hissing, but it was an almost hypnotic singsong.

The fact that they were all female made Yaden wonder whether they were matriarchal, like their House Cournicova at home. None of them seemed fazed by meeting males running their own ship though and the Commander they had spoken of was male as well so Yaden chose not to mention it.

"A pleasure to meet you all and again - thank you for the rescue." Yaden said.

Sarisha smirked, showing sharp canines. "You're welcome. I'm sure we'll find some way for you to repay the favour. Now let's go meet the Commander. I called ahead and let him know we found you. He's quite curious to hear your tale and so am I."


	5. Chapter 5

The promenade ran along inside one of the major spokes of the third layer extending from the axis tree where they had parked Pebble. It was thick enough to house large businesses on both sides of a broad walkway.

In their meeting with Commander Ruffon, they had learned that this tree served as the hub for Diatomee's population, the other trees were mostly unexplored. The Commander and his command centre were located in the cluster of spokes right around the tree on the first layer. The second layer near the tree held various communal facilities like a proper med bay and the headquarter of the station's security force. The third layer with its large spokes was where businesses and private quarters were located.

The meeting itself had been a lot more informative to Yaden than to the Commander, who was of the same lizard like species as Majan. He had mostly been interested in why the Terrans had destroyed the jumpgate, which Yaden hadn't been able to answer. Apparently Ruffon was hoping the jumpgates might prove to be some kind of advantage against the Terrans.

Yaden and Ivan had learned that the inhabitants of Diatomee were only a very minor player in the real conflict taking place in this galaxy.

On one side there were the Terrans, an expansionist empire who mercilessly annihilated any alien competition or human defectors.

On the other side were a race who Ruffon just called the 'methane-breathers', since apparently the name they called themselves was a combination of sound and smell which no humanoid could reproduce. They lived on high density gaseous planets and travelled in floating enviro-suits. From Sarisha's description Yaden guessed they looked like some sort of jellyfish. They were the good guys in this drama, technically highly advanced and philanthropically inclined they protected what they perceived as lesser species from the aggression of the Terrans.

Still, many alien species had lost their home planets to the brutal attacks of the Terrans so most planets inhabited by non-humans sported a wild mix of various races.

Diatomee was a special place since it was essentially lawless. The station was well hidden by the fact that it was located in a system without any habitable planets and tugged between the two suns it was extremely hard to detect. The Commander had actually been the Captain of a pirate ship when he found the station. Now it was a safe haven for all sorts of criminals and fugitives who had nowhere else to go.

Commander Ruffon wasn't really in control of the station. There was a board of people who made decisions, made up of the richest and most influential inhabitants. Ruffon was in charge of the armed forces, both of the security who kept a modicum of order aboard as of the fighter pilots, who would defend the station should it get attacked.

It was not under the official protection of the methane-breathers so the Commander was anxious for any kind of advantage should the Terrans ever find Diatomee. There also was an underlying tension which led Yaden to belief that Ruffon and Sarisha had some personal grudge against the Terrans, but they were clearly unwilling to discuss it in front of him and Ivan so he didn't ask.

In the end Ruffon had gruffly welcomed them on board and told them they were as welcome to stay as any other criminal who found his way here. If they wanted assistance in getting back home they'd have to trade for it like everyone else.

Once they were out of the office, Caro and Vio had both offered their help in that project - Caro in exchange for being allowed to take a closer look at Pebble's very different build and Vio in exchange for stories from their home galaxy.

Seeing that her squad was so curious about the 'alien humans' Sarisha had invited them to come have dinner with them later in a bistro with the colourful name 'Chez Chantale' on the promenade.

Now Yaden and Ivan were on their way back to Pebble to let the rest of the family know what they had learned, but had decided to take the detour over the promenade to get a better feeling for the station and its inhabitants.

The promenade was lined with various shops, bars and food shacks. Some of them were as shady and dangerous looking as Sarisha had warned, but Yaden and Ivan also passed a small tea and spices store and a flower shop. They also saw the Chez Chantale which turned out to be pretty and neat enough that it could have been located in a side street of Opera in Imperial City. Station time was early afternoon, but still the place was quite full with various aliens eating and drinking.

Humans were clearly the minority on Diatomee. They saw only very few, but the ones that were there seemed to be treated as equals, not as hated enemies. Apparently, there was a clear distinction between being human and being a Terran. Since they would probably spend a while here, Yaden found that rather reassuring.

There were many humanoid species, but also a few that looked utterly strange, like something that looked like a ball of tentacles rolling along.

The weirdest thing was how everyone spoke the local version of Imperial or Terran Standard, as they called it. The various alien species had adopted the language as common ground, but that didn't explain how it was possible that the Terrans and the people of the Phoenix Empire shared the same language. Or that both of them were human. It was a mystery that Yaden was as keen on unravelling as his daughter Myriam. Yaden was hoping that she would be able to grill Vio for more information in exchange for the stories the tiny winged creature seemed to crave.

Since the main spoke of the promenade itself forked out into narrower branches, there were plenty of tunnels leading away like alleyways from a large street. Yaden hadn't been to many space stations so he had no idea if this feeling of a labyrinthine barrow was normal.

Of course he wouldn't have had trouble finding his way anywhere on the station. Diatomee was alive around him, forming a sparkling web of living matter. With Ivan keeping an eye on him he didn't bother looking out for possible attackers and instead let his attention wander along the branches, always accompanied by a sense of cheerful welcome by the station itself.

But the further they went the dirtier the shops and bars became, away from the hub around the main tree.

Yaden was about to suggest they turn around and head back to Pebble, when a hard shuffle of feet and then the impact of a body against the ground turned his attention to an especially dark tunnel leading off from the main walkway between a dingy food shack and what probably was a very low rate brothel. Now that he was listening he heard a gruff voice growl something threatening, too.

It definitely was none of his business and it probably was a very bad idea to interfere, so of course Yaden stepped into the tunnel. He couldn't help but smirk when Ivan followed him without so much as a questioning peep. His friend and squire had internalized the Phoenix Knight code of helping wherever help might be needed as much as Yaden had.

Only a few meters into the tunnel, they found the source of the scuffle. Three large, heavily muscled humanoid creatures loomed over a rather petite human woman on the ground. The attackers stood hunched forward with arms long enough that their thick paws nearly reached the ground. Their heads looked more like misshapen lumps with equal measures of shaggy hair and patches of leathery hide.

"We know you got a storage key!" One of the creatures growled at the woman. "Give it to us!"

She tried to scoot back from it, but only bumped into one of its comrades behind her. She definitely looked scared so Yaden was rather surprised when she hissed an angry: "Fuck off!" at her assailant.

"Now listen here, doll…" The creature barked, but this time Yaden didn't let him finish.

"Leave the lady alone!" he commanded loudly.

Obviously neither the creatures nor the woman had expected any kind of interference from anybody - all of them turned to Yaden and Ivan with complete consternation on their faces. Then the creatures realized that they were facing two more humans and they sneered.

"This ain't none of your business, little human." The leader of the creatures growled threatening. "Run along before I decide to…"

It was pretty clear that the situation wouldn't be finished with words so Yaden didn't let the creature waste any more of them. His toes burrowed into the ground as his powers took hold of the malleable material that Diatomee was made of. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't have been able to grab it at all had Diatomee resisted, but she seemed to agree with his course of action, making it ridiculously easy to manipulate the ground and walls of the tunnel. With a little tug, the floor bucked up under the creature like an angry pack mule. It didn't quite lose its footing, but it didn't have to as a good junk of the wall lashed out and clogged it over the head. The creature crashed to the ground like a felled tree before its two comrades even had a chance to react.

Apparently not overly smart, they roared in anger and both advanced on Yaden, only to stop in their tracks, their eyes growing huge with shock. A glance over his shoulder showed what Yaden had expected - sabres of pure flame had appeared in Ivan's hands and a savage grin on his face.

"Run along before I decide to cut you to ribbons." Ivan finished the leader's threat with a lot of confidence and audible cheer.

For a moment it looked like they wouldn't be smart enough to bail, but when Ivan puffed a small breath of fire at them they turned and fled, leaving their unconscious leader behind.

"Are you alright?" Yaden asked the woman, who was sitting up straighter, rubbing her shoulder which had probably impacted painfully with the ground when she had been pushed.

"Yeah, I'm good." She nodded, but most of her attention was on Ivan, as he flicked off his sabres with a twist of his wrists. "That is some impressive cyberware you have there." She commented, sounding in equal parts fascinated and suspicious. "Don't think I've ever seen anything as sophisticated outside the Terran Special Forces Corps."

While she was focused on Ivan, Yaden used the opportunity to quickly smooth the floor back down with a sweep of his foot.

"No cyberware." Ivan said with a smile. "I'm a psion."

She blinked at him without comprehension. "A what?"

Ivan quickly glanced at Yaden to decide how to answer that. Yaden in turn offered her his hand to get back to her feet, which she accepted after a moment's hesitation.

"A psion." Yaden explained. "Someone who manipulated matter with his will."

Since psions had been a common occurrence in the Calarni galaxy, he had expected it would be the same here, especially with humans present, but maybe that wasn't the case. The woman incredulous expression cemented that thought.

"With your mind… really…?" She asked, clearly not believing them.

Yaden smiled at her cheerfully. "Yes, really. We're not from around here." He offered in a way of explanation without really explaining anything.

She snorted and again rubbed her shoulder. "Yeah, no kidding." She agreed. "No one native to this hole of shit would lift a hand to help a stranger. Thanks for that."

She looked at Yaden with a sudden small smile and he felt his heart skip a beat as he realized how pretty she was. Her face was heart shaped with bright green eyes under a mop of fine blonde hair which had come loose from the ponytail she kept it in. What really hit him though was the fearless fierceness in her eyes. She was a petite human female who had just been ambushed by three alien thugs who might have killed her and still she wasn't cowed at all.

"You're most welcome." Yaden told her and somehow managed to refrain from kissing her hand like a proper knight would. It would surely have freaked her out. "This doesn't strike me as the safest part of the station." He ventured cautiously, not wanting to insult her. "Would you allow us to escort you home?"

She answered that with a startled, silvery laugh. "My, you really are gallant." She said, smiling cheerfully now. "Usually I'm safe enough anywhere on the station. They know that my boss will eat them if they mess with me, but these morons," she emphasized her words with a well placed kick to the unconscious thug's head, "were after the key to the med bay storage." She accepted Yaden's hand to steady her as she climbed over the bulky alien graciously. "Oh, I didn't introduce myself, I'm Doctor Jennifer Hauser." She then said. "But my friends call me Doc Jenny. Please do too."

"I'm Yaden and this is my friend Ivan." Yaden introduced them in turn as they left the dark tunnel and stepped out onto the promenade again.

"Well, it has been a pleasure meeting you, but I really don't think it will be necessary for you to accompany me home." Jenny said. "But if you ever need patching up feel free to come by med bay any time for a free treatment. Or if your 'not cyberware' needs a check up." She added with a wink.

"I find myself looking forward to getting beat up." Yaden answered with what he hoped was a charming smile.

She again laughed and shook her head. Then she waved to Ivan in goodbye and headed off up the promenade towards the main tree. Yaden looked after her. Just to make sure she wasn't attacked again, of course.

"Really?" Ivan drawled next to him.

"What?" Yaden shot back.

"You were flirting." Ivan accused and poked him in the ribs.

Yaden felt himself blush. Now that Ivan said it aloud he realized it was true. And he hadn't even been that bad at it. "She's pretty." He defended himself.

"Uhu." Ivan mocked.

"And fierce." Yaden added.

"Very." Ivan agreed.

"Do you think Colin would like her?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Oh my god, look at it! That sack must be filled with some sort of lighter than air gas for it to float like that!" Myriam whispered excitedly. Her eyes were wide and she almost bounced along while craning her neck in every possible direction not to miss any detail.

Yaden shared a glance with Colin and then they both smiled fondly at their daughter. Initially, Yaden hadn't been sure how Myriam would react when she was on a long term mission. She was a teenager, after all, and she could just as well have despaired over being stuck so far away from home. So far, his worries were proving to be unfounded. She was brimming with barely contained curiosity but at the same time she was willing to follow orders and share in the work like any adult would have. He really had no doubt that one day she would become an exceptional Phoenix Knight if she chose to follow that path.

They were on their way to the Chez Chantale to share dinner with Sarisha and the other Quicksilvers. Darren and the twins were back on the Pebble and Ivan was staying behind with them to keep them safe should any of the criminals of the station try anything stupid.

While Myriam was delighted at the strange sights of the promenade, Colin did look a little overwhelmed so Yaden reached out and took his husband's hand. For someone who had never encounters any none-humans apart from a few Youh'Kai, he took the riot of weirdness around them quite calmly.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Myriam continued her running commentary about the alien species around them. "His bones must be extra dense to support that weight!"

At least they were not drawing any stares for the fact that they were human. He felt how Colin gratefully squeezed his hand. At least they didn't have to go far since the bistro was located close to the main tree.

"Wow." Colin said when they arrived. "That looks completely out of place."

Yaden agreed. Right across from the Chez Chantale was the entrance to a plush brothel and it was wedged between something called a 'meat doctor' and a cheap little shop advertising for various drugs. The bistro itself was clean, brightly lit and furnished with what looked like proper wooden tables and chairs. Coupled with the smells of freshly cooked, tasty food and the happy chatter of the customers, it looked like someone had taped it over whatever dingy food shack should have been there.

The fact that the place was packed was further proof of its quality.

"Sarisha said they serve the best food on the station." Yaden explained. "I hope we can even find a spot." He added as they made their way inside.

He needn't have worried. Sarisha and the other Quicksilver had already secured a large round table at the back of the room and when the big cat noticed Yaden she stood up and waved them over.

Yaden quickly introduced his husband and daughter and had to grin when Caro commented with a shrug that she wasn't able to tell him, Ivan or Colin apart anyway since all humans looked so very much alike.

They all listened carefully when Caro explained the little symbols on the menu which showed what was edible by which sort of metabolism.

"In case of doubt you can just ask Will." Sarisha added and then roared at an impressive volume. "Will!"

Yaden winced, but the other patrons of the bistro seemed to be familiar with the Quicksilver leader's behaviour as no one so much as looked up from their meal.

A male voice shouted from somewhere near the bar: "What?"

"Come on over here!" Sarisha roared back.

Moments later a tall, lean human with a tussled mop of blond hair, who was wearing a white apron, slipped through the crowd to their table. Both Colin and Yaden blinked in surprise when he leaned down to press a quick kiss to one of Sarisha's fuzzy ears. Then he smiled at them with genuine warmth.

"Hi, I'm William." He introduced himself. "Welcome to my bistro. It's not often we see new human faces out here."

"We picked them up and towed them back here." Sarisha said like that was some kind of personal accomplishment. "This is Yaden, his husband Colin and their daughter Myriam. They are not Terrans."

Will laughed and gently cuffed the big cat's ear. "Of course not, you'd have eaten them if they were."

Sarisha grinned at him showing lots of sharp teeth and slung one arms around his hips to pull him close to her. That was the last bit of confirmation Yaden needed to determine that the two of them were together in some way.

"What can I get you folks?" Will asked, batting at Sarisha's paws half-heartedly. "I made a lovely onion soup earlier which we serve with melted cheese and bread. Or if you want something more substantial I can throw some steaks on the grill."

"Myriam and I will have the soup and Yaden will eat a few steaks." Colin finally got a word in. "And thank you for the kind welcome."

Will beamed at him happily. "You really are welcome. I'd love to chat but right now it's real busy. I'll try and come sit with you when things calm down a bit." He freed himself from Sarisha's clinging arms. "Your dinner won't come if you don't let me go to make it, fuzzball." He admonished and then hurried back through the crowd towards the bar.

"He's the father of my kittens." Sarisha announced proudly.

"You are genetically compatible?" Myriam blurted.

"Yeah, the Thanaris are compatible with almost all humanoid species." Vio answered her question with a grin. "They are also genetically dominant so whatever you pair them with you will always get more Thanaris. Add to that the fact that they have litters of three to eight kittens and you realize why they are spreading over this galaxy like the plague."

"Hey!" Sarisha exclaimed and tried to whack Vio which she nimbly dodged. "At least we aren’t like the Terrans and kill everybody else."

Caro snorted. "That's only because you can't ever agree on anything. Put more than three of them in one place and they will inevitably start beating each other up."

"It's a sign of good cheer and affection." Sarisha muttered, but she clearly was more amused than upset.

Yaden noticed how Colin smiled at the Quicksilver's banter and relaxed back in his seat. He listened as Myriam fired off more questions about various topics in no particular order. His daughter seemed determined to know absolutely everything. It was hard to believe that only three short years had passed since he had found her on Shiraz. Maybe the change was so startling to him since he had missed almost a year of it. In that year, the scared child had been replaced by an endlessly curious teenager. At the age of fourteen, she was already a lot more confident and sure of her place in the world than Yaden had been at that age. Apparently, he and Colin were doing something right in their parenting.

His attention was drawn back to the discussion as a sudden gloomy silence descended.

"Who's Geoff?" Myriam asked into the silence.

"He was…" Vio started to answer but was immediately interrupted by Sarisha.

"He IS my second in command and my best friend. The Terrans have taken him." She growled.

Yaden watched as Vio, Caro and Majan exchanged glances. It was obvious what they thought and moments later Caro said it.

"Sarisha, you know he's dead by now." She rumbled. "If he was lucky, he managed to kill himself before they could haul his fighter in. And if they captured him alive…" She left the sentence hanging, not willing to spell out whatever terrible things the Terrans would have done to him.

Sarisha just glared at her.

Luckily, they were interrupted by the arrival of their food. The server was extremely well suited for the job. Coming equipped with four very dexterous arms, he effortlessly juggled eight plates. The food smelled and looked as delicious as everything else that had been carried past their table so far and further conversation was halted as they all started eating.

Yaden would have let the sore topic of the Quicksilver's missing mate rest, but his nosy daughter had no such inhibitions.

"So how did they capture your friend?" She asked after she had devoured about half her soup.

Yaden would have told her to curb her curiosity, but Sarisha was already answering: "We were on a mission, stealing medical supplies for the station. The transport wasn't very heavily guarded, which should have clued us in that it would be some sort of trap. We disabled its engine and were about to board it when an archangel emerged from it."

"Archangel?" Yaden for once beat his daughter to the question.

"The God-Emperor's special elite squad." Vio explained. "So heavily packed with cyberware they can barely be called human anymore. Fully capable of surviving and fighting in space. It really was a miracle…"

"It's how good we are!" Sarisha growled angrily. "We killed the fucking bastard! Shot him to shreds!"

"He punched a hole in my cockpit!" Caro growled back just as angrily. "You can tell yourself all you like how awesome we are. It was sheer luck we survived that fight. And Geoff didn't!"

"While we were fighting the angel more Terran ships jumped in." Vio finished the story while Sarisha and Caro glared at each other once more. "They got a stasis beam on Geoff when we were jumping out. He didn't make it."

"They captured him." Sarisha repeated. "We have no proof that they killed him. If he wasn't human I wouldn't argue with you. But he is. And there is a chance they didn't kill him but shipped him off to some sort of re-education camp. You know they do that."

Caro shook her head in exasperated disgust so it was Vio's turn to answer. "They'd have interrogated him first. It's been over two weeks. There… there just won't be anything left of who he was…"

Yaden of course had no idea what interrogation practices the Terrans employed, but he privately wondered how true that was. He knew well enough what kind of horror the human mind could experience and endure and still come out intact. Ivan was living proof of that and, to a lesser degree, so was Myriam.

The Quicksilvers lapsed into unhappy silence again and Myriam looked thoroughly chagrined when she realized it was her fault for asking more questions about their missing friend. She shot an imploring glance at Yaden, but it was Colin who came to her rescue.

"So how old are your kittens?" He asked Sarisha.

For a moment it looked like she would growl something, but then she smoothed back her bristling whiskers and sighed deeply. "About a year." She said, visibly extracting herself from her gloomy thoughts. "I'm really glad William takes care of them. They can be quite… demanding…"

"Really?" Colin grinned widely. "Our twins are the same age. Maybe we should introduce them."

The thought hadn't even crossed Yaden's mind, so he was deeply impressed by his husband's brilliance. He wasn't sure Siva would want to play with rowdy kittens, but Vian would surely be delighted.


	7. Chapter 7

"Right. I didn't understand a single word of what you just said." Ivan rubbed his face tiredly and Yaden agreed.

They were trying to figure out what they would need to do to get back home and Myriam's explanation had sounded really smart, but none of the complex vocabulary she had used meant anything to either him or Ivan. And that was saying something considering Ivan was a lot better educated than Yaden ever planned on becoming.

"Can you explain that in not technobabble, honey?" He asked hopefully.

"Uh…" Myriam visible fought with the lack of understanding from the two grown ups she most looked up to. It had to be confusing and elating at the same time to realize you were smarter than them. "Okay… let's try the short version." She then said. "Basically there are two codes needed to get us home through any jumpgate. One is to get the local jumpgate to power up for a long distance jump. They are… erhm… let's just call it they are 'locked' so not just anybody can constantly overload them. Then you need the code for the gate that you are dialling out to. A big part of that code it determined by the gate you are targeting while a small bit changes with where you are calling from. We have the target code for our home gate. That will be the same one the Calarni used to send you back home so we need to figure out the missing bit which I can do with some tinkering when we are near the gate we want to use. The hard part will be getting the override code that allows us to power up the gate properly. To get that we need to actually enter a gate and break into the control unit."

"What do you mean with 'enter the gate'?" Yaden asked. "Do we need to activate it and then jump? Wouldn't that just put us through it?"

Myriam laughed. "Dad, no, I mean the actual, physical gate. There are control rooms in the structure. What do you think how scientists figured out how to operate them in the first place?"

Even though he'd used plenty of jumpgates, Yaden had never really thought about how they worked or who had figured it out. To him they were on the same level as refrigerators and hovercars - he used them and if they didn't work he called someone for help who knew how to fix them. Hell, even the workings of a steam engine were a mystery to him. That his daughter seemed to understand how a jumpgate worked was plain amazing.

"And you know how to do all that?" Ivan asked, sounding just a little incredulous. It was reassuring that he was just as intimidated by Myriam's display of brilliance.

She shrugged. "I hope so. I went inside the gates of P2 and Crystalis with Doctor Heganski. Well… I was just supposed to carry supplies really, but I pestered her with questions until she kicked me out." She grinned at Yaden and Ivan with reckless enthusiasm. "I mean, if it doesn't work on the first try I'll just have to try harder, right? Isn't that the family motto?"

Yaden took the few steps over to where she was sitting at her control console on Pebble's bridge and hugged her. "I don't tell you often enough how insanely proud I am of you, daughter of mine." He said softly.

"Dad!" She wriggled in his embrace uncomfortably and he quickly let go again. "No hugging of brilliant scientists, okay?" She groused and made a gesture she obviously had copied from Doctor Heganski, adjusting invisible glasses on her nose.

"Okay, let me know when you come off duty so I can hug my awesome daughter, yeah?" Yaden said with a grin and then dutifully accepted her punch to his shoulder.

"So… we need to fly out to this system's jumpgate and dig around in it." Ivan summed up.

Myriam nodded. "Yeah."

"Before we do anything of that sort I'd like to know how the Terrans knew to sit in front of that other gate where we arrived." Yaden cautioned their enthusiasm. "And we just got here. I don't see any reason to leave again already."

Once more Myriam nodded vigorously. "There is like a million weird things we need to find out first. That whole Terrans with their own Terra thing! And they have so much fascinating stuff we don't." She was bobbing in her chair with excitement. "I mean, just think about! Maybe we can trade something so they install a jumpdrive in Pebble! Wouldn't that be ultra cool?!"

The thought had crossed Yaden's mind as well.

The Phoenix Empire had only two ships that were able to jump without a gate. One was Duke Mel's ship, the Bandit, which had been built by the Nosoti Lady Beverly which basically meant that no one but her knew how it worked. And the other was the Excalibur, the flagship of the Imperial Fleet. It was so ancient that it was really just held together by hope and duct tape. No one remembered who had built it or how it worked. Two years ago the Emperor had commissioned a new flagship, the Excalibur II, with Lady Beverly and it was being built in orbit of Malicorn currently. As far as Yaden knew it wouldn't be ready for at least another two years. Which still was incredibly speedy, considering the size of over a mile in length and the astounding amount of technical gadgets Lady Beverly was sure to donate to the cause.

Having a jump capable ship of his own would surely come in handy for a Phoenix Knight, especially one who seemed to have a knack at getting lost in distant galaxies. He had no idea what they might trade for that sort of technical knowhow, but Myriam could surely come up with some suggestions.

"Love, do you have a moment?" Colin's voice interrupted their little meeting on the bridge.

He had appeared in the doorway, looking relaxed and a bit puzzled. So not something dangerous, but definitely something interesting, Yaden guessed.

"Sure." He said. "You two can figure out what we might be able to trade." He told Myriam and Ivan and then followed his husband towards the living quarters.

"We have a visitor." Colin explained. "A rather charming, human woman. She was able to walk right in when I invited her in so we can be pretty sure she does not harbour any ill intentions."

"Did she say what she wants?"

Colin shrugged. "Yes. And no… kind of… To be honest it was a little hard to make heads or tails of her excited babbling. As far as I can tell you rescued her and now she wants to talk to you about genetics and get a sample…?"

The only woman, human or alien, Yaden had rescued lately had been Doc Jenny on the previous afternoon and the description fit as well. He had no idea, though, what she might need a sample of.

"Blonde? Petite? Pretty?" he tried to verify with Colin.

His husband grinned, with a sudden gleam to his eye. "Very pretty. Cutest nose I have seen in a long time."

Yaden couldn't help but agree and blushed a little. To hear Colin talk about a woman like this should have made him jealous, but since he agreed there was a bunch of naughty ideas flashing through his mind, which he quickly chased away.

"Oh, so you noticed too?" Colin asked, his grin growing more feral. "I wonder if she has a boyfriend…"

Luckily at that point they reached Pebble's kitchen, where Doc Jenny sat at the table, cradling a mug of tea in her hands and looking thoroughly excited. Somehow she managed to look embarrassed and beam at both Yaden and Colin when they walked in at the same.

"Hi." She greeted Yaden. For a moment she seemed unsure whether to get up, but then she remained seated. "I absolutely need to apologize for not believing you yesterday. I mean… someone who can control matter with the power of his mind? That was totally outlandish. But this morning Irtamen told me that her daughter Sarisha picked you up and that you are actually from another galaxy and heaven knows what different turns the genetic make up of humans may have taken there without the constant culling. It's just… amazing!" She stopped her string of words to draw breath.

Colin and Yaden shared a confused glance.

"So… what brings you here today…?" Yaden asked cautiously, while Colin poured both of them tea.

"Well…" Jenny shifted in her seat, looking slightly embarrassed. "Actually, I was wondering if maybe, and I absolutely swear I would never do anything weird with them… if you would be willing to give me some genetic samples of yourself and your crew. To compare to human DNA native to this galaxy. To see how they differ. I mean, who knows, we could even be not related at all and simply have evolved to look the same!"

"I'd say that's highly unlikely, considering we even speak the same language and we both consider Terra to be our planet of origin. Even though we each seem to have our own Terra…" Yaden said.

"You do? You have?"

Jenny looked about as excited at these news as Myriam and Yaden started to wonder if maybe he should get his daughter to join them so the scientifically inclined girls could compare notes.

"Your assurances that you have no sinister plans are fine," Colin said, studying Jenny over the rim of his tea mug, "but I'm afraid the genetic code of my husband is quite precious, considering what a powerful psion he is. We can't just hand that over to anyone. We'd have to get to know you better first."

It took a moment until Yaden connected Colin's feral grin from before with this utterly sneaky manoeuvre to get Jenny to spend more time with them. He gave Colin what he considered his sternest look, but apparently it was wasted since Jenny's attention caught on something entirely different.

"Husband?" she asked, her eyes shining with happiness. "You mean you are homosexual? That is so awesome!"

"Erh… it is?" Colin asked, clearly startled by her reaction.

"Yes! It's so wonderful that you are allowed to love each other and even be married! The God-Emperor would never permit such a thing. Any sort of deviant behaviour is strictly forbidden and deviants are segregated and sent to re-education. Unless, of course, genetic deviations are detected. Those get culled immediately."

"There is that word again… culled." Colin noted with distaste.

Jenny's expression mirrored his. "There are very narrow rules on what genetic make ups are permitted." She explained. "Every newborn gets tested thoroughly and those deviating from the norms are terminated. It's just terrible. The Genetic Purity Agency picks candidates for reproduction which are most likely to produce desirable offspring." She smiled ruefully. "That is actually the reason why I decided to become a Doctor. I wanted to join the Agency and falsify my own files so I would get paired with the boy I was in love with."

"Apparently it didn't work out?" Yaden asked, charmed both by the notion and Jenny herself.

She chuckled. "Not really, he grew up into a jerk and I ended up running away. After I finished my studies I wanted to go into genetic research. To get into that you need to have very high marks on your loyalty tests. So I bribed a computer tech guy to get me the test form in advance. I memorized the whole thing and got stellar marks. Too stellar, it turned out, as I got assigned to the Truth Seeker Corps instead. They handle interrogations. That was my cue to leave."

Yaden exchanged another glance with Colin and he could clearly read on his lover's face that he was as taken with her courage and spirit as he felt himself.

"Seems you have quite some criminal energy to spare." Colin commented with a grin and toasted her with his tea mug.

Jenny shrugged with a not very credible modest smile.

"And probably as many fascinating stories to tell about your work here and the Terran Empire, as we have about our home." Colin continued smoothly, making Yaden wonder when his backwater baker had turned into such a professional flirter. "How about we invite your over for dinner? I'll cook for us, we can share stories and get to know each other better. And then maybe you may have some samples."

"That sounds so lovely that I have to wonder whether you will drug me and sell me off to some alien monster kingpin." Jenny answered with a grin. "Obviously I accept the invitation."

Yaden was quite sure that she had no idea of Colin's true motives. He wasn't sure either, what he thought of his husband's sudden appetite. He wasn't really jealous, it was just a little too fast for Yaden to adapt to comfortably. Apparently Darren was still right - he'd never make a proper Dracon. Preferring relationships built at a sedate pace over a quick and wild tumble really wasn't the thing his House was famous for.

"Friday I have the early shift at the med bay which means I have the evening free." Jenny said and got up. "Would that be alright with you for dinner?"

"Sounds perfect." Colin answered while Yaden once more mentally fought against the disturbing use of familiar names for even the days of a week. "I'll show you out."

Jenny nodded to Yaden again and then she was led away by Colin. Yaden remained seated at the kitchen table, drinking tea and pondering about the fact that his husband had just arranged a threesome dinner date for them.


	8. Chapter 8

With a ringing yowl of triumph Vian managed to brake just in time before he would have hit the wall at full tilt, simply by dropping on his side and letting the thick carpeting do the rest. His playmate wasn't quite so agile. Tiger impacted with the wall with an audible thud and a yelp of pain. Moments later Vian's howl turned into indignant screeching as the last in their race ran right into him and both he and Snow tumbled head over heels.

Yaden watched with deep amusement as the jumble of limbs erupted in what could only be called a cat fight. Their battle quickly turned into a three way fight when Night pounced into the fray from his hiding place behind the couch.

At first, he had been concerned that one of the kids might get hurt with such violent antics, but they all seemed to be as resilient as Vian and it made Yaden heart glow with happiness that his son had found playmates who enjoyed his rough play style.

Siva had at first not been willing to leave her perch on her father's arms, watching with huge eyes how Vian, Tiger, Snow and Night first sniffed and pawed at each other and then quickly started racing around the living room of William's apartment like their tails were in fire. She had only changed her mind when she had notice the fourth of Sarisha's kittens, Spot. He wasn't as boisterous as his three siblings. Instead he quietly sat on the edge of a huge armchair, watching and looking like he was ready to hide behind a pillow at a moment's notice.

When she saw him, Siva had insistently chirped at Yaden until he carefully sat her down on the same chair. For a little while they had just watched each other cautiously, but then they had apparently decided they were not threat. Then they had groomed each other for quite a while, running their tiny hands through their fur. Now they were deeply asleep, curled around each other and entirely unperturbed by the infernal noise the other four were producing.

It was Yaden's job to watch the kids while William and Colin shared the spacious kitchen for a little cook off. The moment William had learned that Colin was a professional baker, he had begged and pleaded for Colin to show him some tricks of the trade so he could try to make his own bread for the Chez Chantale. That had quickly merged with the idea to introduce the kids to each other and so they were spending this evening at William's apartment to have dinner with him and Sarisha while Darren had a night off from the twins and was being shown around Diatomee together with Myriam by Ivan. Yaden very much hoped that they wouldn't get into too much trouble and if they did, that they would manage not to burn down half the station.

The relentless battle on the floor turned into a race again, as Snow managed to break away and ran off, closely followed by both Night and Vian. Tiger had still been sitting close to the wall, looking slightly dazed. Yaden had just about started to worry if maybe he had taken some damage after all, when he roared a cute little challenge and then charged after the other three.

At first, Yaden had found the choice of names for the kittens a bit strange. They were simply named by the colour of their fur. Snow was white, Night was black, Tiger dark brown with red stripes and Spot sand coloured with spots of white and darker brown. William had explained that these were not their final names, though. Since Thanaris could have up to eight kittens in one litter, they were named for their look initially, so their parents were able to tell them apart easily. Once they turned fifteen there would be an elaborate naming ceremony, where they would be able to choose their final names for themselves.

From his place on the couch, Yaden heard Colin and William laugh in the kitchen. Watching the kids play was entertaining, but still he would have liked some adult company to talk to. Sarisha had been supposed to be home nearly an hour ago, but she had called to let them know she would be late, due to an emergency meeting with the Commander.

Apparently he would just have to fashion his own entertainment. With a little smile Yaden dug a handful of metal out of the floor and quickly moulded it into the form of a small rabbit. Then he sent it sliding across the floor, crossing the path of the racing kids. The success was immediate as all their attention riveted on the suddenly appeared prey.

What had been a playful chase turned into a wild hunt with decidedly lethal intentions. They'd kept to the ground so far, but now Yaden sent them scrambling over couches and chairs. Considering their age they were amazingly fast and agile, but there were plenty of mishaps when the kids tumbled over each other. It slowed them down but never stopped them for long. For long minutes they chased their prey with grim determination.

Snow dropped out of the race first, sitting in the middle of the room, panting desperately. Night was next, lying on his side, gasping for breath just as desperately. Yaden knew his son well enough to see that he was at the limit of his endurance as well, so he allowed Tiger and Vian to catch the silvery rabbit. They pounced on it with ferocious growls, tossing it back and forth between them. Finally it came to lie between them, unmoving and conquered.

That was the sign for both Vian and Tiger to collapse as well.

Yaden smiled at the completely exhausted kids.

"Wow." said William's deeply impressed voice from the doorway to the kitchen. "You managed to tire them out. Can I rent you as a babysitter?"

Yaden chuckled. "No thanks, I've got my hands full with just our own."

"He really is a wonderful father." Colin appeared next to William, smiling with clear pride in his good catch. "Come on, love, you've earned a reward." He gestured for Yaden to join them in the kitchen.

The kids were still down so Yaden decided he could afford to leave them to themselves for a little while. The smells from the kitchen had turned more and more enticing in the course of the last hour and his ever present appetite was demanding he investigate what Colin and William had prepared.

Several rows of puff pastries sat on a cooling rack on the kitchen table. Some had chocolate icing while other had the smell of bacon and cheese mixed in. They made Yaden's mouth water. He glanced at Colin for permission though, before snatching up one of each. The first bite of the chocolate one was as divine as the smell had promised.

"That frozen puff pastry dough really is handy." William said, eyeing the pastries with obvious pride. "I wish I could get it out here. As it is, I'd really be grateful if you showed me how to make it from scratch."

"It's a bitch to make." Colin answered. "Though you'll probably have an easier time with it here on the station where you have better control over the temperature of the dough. We live on a subtropical island. It's virtually impossible to keep the butter at the right temperature."

William grinned, undaunted by the prospect. "I have managed to open a happy, bright bistro on this hellhole of a space station. I'll manage to make puff pastry dough."

They continued talking about dough properties which went right over Yaden's head so he curiously investigated what else they had cooking. In the oven several bread rolls were just gaining some colour. On the stove a large pot with some sort of vegetable smelling soup was happily bubbling. And there was a large covered casserole sitting on the counter which smelled of meat. It looked like it would be a pretty awesome dinner.

"Love, ten pastries is enough. Leave some of the rest of us." Colin admonished gently.

Yaden hadn't even realized that he had kept right on eating and he now guiltily eyed the quite visibly decimated rows of pastries. "Sorry." He apologized with a rueful smile. "They are really good."

William laughed. "Where does he put all that? He seems to put away more food than Sarisha and that really says something."

"Accelerated metabolism." Colin explained. "He'll eat anything, but he loves great food." He then added with a fond smile.

Yaden slung an arm around his husband and gently kissed Colin's nose. "Yeah, what a luck I married the best baker in the whole universe."

"You two are really sweet, you know that?" William said with a smile of his own. "Always warms my heart to see a happy couple. Now…" He looked at the food and then at the clock mounted above the kitchen door. "I think we should start feeding the little predators and then eat too. No telling when Sarisha will be done with her meeting and I won't let good food go to waste."

Feeding the kids consisted of putting minced meat in bowls and then rounding up the sleepy children from their various places in the living room. They sat in a circle on the floor, each with a bowl in their lap, munching happily and afterwards curled up in a heap of sleeping bliss.

Then they settled down for their own dinner around the kitchen table with the cooling rack moved to the already crowded counter. Talk quickly turned to food and the preparation of it as Colin and William compared notes on what their respective lovers most liked to eat which in Sarisha's book seemed to be chocolate of every variety. Yaden added in some comments of his own but mostly he just listened to them, glad that Colin had found someone he could so well relate to.

They were finished with the actual dinner and Yaden was nibbling on some more puff pastries, when the door to the apartment banged open. Yaden would have been ready to defend Colin and William from any intruder, but moments later Sarisha stalked into the room. She looked about ready to kill someone and completely ignored all of them to grab a bottle of alcoholic brewage from a cupboard and drained half of it in one long pull.

"Sarisha?" William asked cautiously.

"He's going to let him rot." She growled in reply, slowly turning around. "The damned bastard is going to let his own damned son rot."

For a long moment the two of them looked at each other, William with patient supportiveness and Sarisha with murderous intent.

Then William huffed in exasperation. "Damn it, you stubborn fluffball! Who is going to let who rot?!"

That seemed to startle the big alien out of her wordless rage. "Ruffon!" She exclaimed. "His spies have found Geoff! They're keeping him in some installation on one of the Terran core systems. And Ruffon has decided we are not going to try to rescue him. Too dangerous. Too little chance of success. Too… He's a fucking coward!" She finished, punching the counter, leaving a visible dent.

"Do not harm my kitchen." William growled back at her with a scary amount of threat of his own.

Sarisha visibly flinched and muttered: "Sorry."

"I'm guessing the core systems of the Terran Empire are very well guarded?" Yaden asked.

The most important systems of the Phoenix Empire were all well protected with stationary fleets or orbital space stations. And of course by the troops of the local ruling Houses, the church and the Psions' Guild. Still, Yaden was sure that he would have been able to sneak onto any one of them to extract a single prisoner. That of course didn't have to apply to Terran systems. They might have any number of security measures he wouldn't know how to handle.

"Getting to the planet isn't the problem." Sarisha hissed angrily. "The Terrans have no scanners that can penetrate our cloaking. But Ruffon thinks we won't be able to get him out of the actual base since we are pilots, not ground troops. I'd go anywhere and fight anything to free Geoff. So would Majan." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Damn him. He's right. There's no way the two of us could pull this off. It's not like we could sneak in there and pretend we are human soldiers or something."

Colin groaned and hid his face in his hands, making Yaden smile. His husband knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Well, Ivan and I could help." He offered. "I can assure you we have been in all sorts of shit and that very much includes all sorts of ground missions." And of course the Terrans would have no idea what hit them, considering they had no experience with psions whatsoever.

"You would help us?" Sarisha asked, obviously not believing her own furry ears. Which wasn't that surprising, since she lived on a space station of cut-throat criminals.

Yaden shrugged. "Sure. We owe you. It's a chance to kick the people in the head who blew up our way home."

"You realize this is pretty much a suicide mission?" Sarisha asked again. "You'd have to get into the base, find Geoff, free him and get out with him alive."

"So just another Tuesday in my husband's book." Colin answered before Yaden could, slightly muffled since he still hid his face in his hands. "He's going to enjoy it. It's what he does." He looked up then and gave Yaden a pained look. "Remind me again why I married a professional hero?"

"Because you love me?" Yaden offered, took Colin's hand and kissed his fingers.

Colin just groaned.

"And you're human." Sarisha said, visibly warming to the idea. "We could get you Terran uniforms. That should make it much easier to get in. And your Pebble's cloaking is even better than ours."

"You would have to install one of your fancy jumpdrives, though." Yaden suggested, mindful of his daughter's wishes.

Sarisha shook her head. "Won't have time for that. If we go we need to go as soon as possible. The news is already a few days old. Any time we waste might be time they use to kill or transfer Geoff elsewhere. We'll just have to pull Pebble with our fighters again."

"Too risky." Yaden argued. "We may need the fighters to be able to move freely and defend our escape. How quickly can you install a jumpdrive?"

"You're right." Sarisha clicked her claws on the counter, thinking hard. "I'll talk to Caro about that and then tell the Commander. We'll just have to be fast." She turned to leave, but then stopped in the kitchen's doorway. "Thank you." She said, smiling for the first time since she had walked in. "I will never forget this." Then she quickly left.

"So… I take the twins back to Pebble and you go find Ivan, Myriam and Darren?" Colin asked.

Yaden rubbed his nose thoughtfully. "Actually… William, would you mind if the twins with their nanny Darren and Colin stayed with you while we are gone? I'd rather not have the little ones under foot when we go into Terran territory."

Colin opened his mouth to argue, but then his glance went to the sleeping children and he closed it with a deep frown.

"Of course they can stay." William said. "Geoff is my friend too. Anything I can do to help bring him home I will."

"I don't think I have to tell you how much I do not like this." Colin muttered unhappily.

Yaden couldn't help but grin at him insolently. "Awh, darling. You couldn't come anyway. You have a dinner date with Doctor Jenny tomorrow night, remember?" He dutifully didn't dodge out of the way when Colin started hitting him.


	9. Chapter 9

Yaden unfolded his senses like a soft blanket, spreading it over the ground below Pebble. While Pebble, only held in the air by his powers, was the rock his conscience stood upon, he extended himself outward. He didn't actively scan, but simply let his conscience envelope the ground and the structures built on and below it. There were plenty.

Squat buildings, all constructed in the same dimension the Terrans favoured. The god-emperor-given symmetry, Caro had explained. Apparently they really built everything in those same dimensions starting from nutrition bars up to their largest buildings and spacecrafts. Even the structures and rooms below the ground followed those rules. This and the fact that they were all built from concrete and steel made them extremely easy for Yaden to grasp.

He had no idea what exactly he needed to look for, but there was one part of the underground warren which was surrounded by extra thick, reinforced walls and a much lower amount of human activity. A good bet when looking for a place where one might hold special prisoners. Luckily, it was located rather close to the surface. With ease Yaden mapped a route of entry which would bring them to what he guessed to be some sort of storage room by the many metal crates sitting inside it, inside that walled off area.

They would bypass all those fancy security measures and guards by making their way through a tunnel, burrowed by Yaden. As long as he shifted the earth gently, no alarms should be triggered by that. Since they knew so little about Terran customs, it would be safer to meet as few people as possible inside the installation. Their Terran uniforms really would only stand up to a most cursory inspection. If they managed to get in, grab their target and get out again unseen that would certainly be best, though Yaden really didn't expect they would. That would be too smooth to qualify as a Phoenix Knight mission.

Getting into the system had been almost laughably easy. Vio had plotted a jump that had brought them out in the shadow of an uninhabited moon. With all of their cloaking engaged, the only reason Yaden was sure that the Quicksilvers had arrived as well were the energy bursts from their exiting the jump. There was no communication between them possible since the Terrans might have caught it. So they had laid down their plans in advance.

They would all make their way to the location of the installation where Geoff was supposed to be held. The fact that Yaden was able to fly Pebble with her engines switched off made her untraceable even in a planetary atmosphere so Pebble would enter the planet's atmosphere while the Quicksilvers remained in orbit. Then Yaden would safely park the still cloaked Pebble and Ivan and Yaden would break into the compound and get Geoff out while Myriam remained on board. Ideally, Yaden and Ivan would make their way back to Pebble and they would be able to get out undetected, sending a short data burst out to the Quicksilvers so they would know to jump out again as well.

If things didn't go as smoothly, Myriam would have to fly Pebble to pick up Yaden and Ivan wherever they could meet and then they would use Pebble as the flying battering ram she was meant to be to get out while the Quicksilvers joined the fight to defend their escape as needed.

Yaden hadn't been sure how Myriam would react to having so much responsibility placed on her, but once more she had made him proud. Instead of exuberant excitement or begging to be allowed to come along into the Terran base, she had paled a little, quite aware of the importance of her part in this mission. Then she had drawn a deep breath, squared her shoulders and solemnly promised not to let them down. She was a part of the team now and she knew it.

"I'll put Pebble down now." Yaden announced, disentangling his mind from the ground below. He was still keenly aware on where he and Ivan would need to go so there was no need to keep his attention spread so far.

There was plenty of empty, barren plains around the Terran base, ideal to park Pebble. They apparently preferred to have an open view of their surroundings and a remote location. Not that this would help them any against an invisible ship parked right on their doorstep.

Yaden settled Pebble down so gently the ship hardly stirred any dust.

The sun had already risen, but her light was still weakened by a clouded sky and the ground was covered in a thin early morning fog. Yaden would have preferred night for their operation, but the minimal cover would have to do. As soon as they exited Pebble the would be visible for a short time, until Yaden could safely burrow them underground.

"Ready?" Yaden asked and looked from Ivan to Myriam.

She nodded with a tight smile. "Ready, dad."

"Always ready." Ivan replied with a much more confident grin. "Let's find out what charred Terran smells like."

Yaden gave his daughter a last encouraging nod, then he and Ivan headed out while Myriam gingerly settled in the Captain's chair. This time Ivan had no worried comments about Myriam, Yaden noticed. Just like Yaden, he had decided that she really was ready.

They opened the outer hatch of Pebble and had a quick look around from the safety of still being inside the cloaking field. The plains were lifeless dirt. Burned clean by some kind of chemical, Yaden realized, now that he was closer to the ground. He could still sense faint traces of it in the hard earth. Apparently the Terrans disregard for other life forms extended to animals and plants, not just aliens.

He quickly dug a shallow hole by packing the earth more tightly to the sides right beneath the hatch. Then he and Ivan hopped down into it. He detected no change in the activities at the Terran base so they had very likely not been noticed. With firm gestures of his hands he pushed downwards, sinking them deeper into the ground. He didn't so much create a tunnel, as make a tiny, bubble shaped cave which travelled below ground. Creating a tunnel would have displaces a lot more earth which might have created a noticeable tremor. It took time, though. Ivan kept a small flame burning in his hand so they had some light.

"Are we there yet?" Ivan asked periodically with mocking impatience, until it they reached their destination and docked with the storage room.

"Yes." Yaden replied in a whisper and parted the reinforced steel wall in front of them like someone else might part a heavy curtain.

The storage room was as dark and crowded with crates as he had expected. It was also devoid of any Terran guards. Ivan immediately took point, carefully scanning the room and then taken up a position next to the door.

Yaden entered the room as well, his senses quickly sweeping out. He had no powers that would allow him to detect living matter, but he didn't have to since all the people walking around in the base wore something made of metal - be it belt buckles and jewellery or armour and weapons. Many of them had metal inside their bodies as well. Cyberware, Yaden guessed. He would be able to use those as brutal weapons against them, if he had the time to get a proper grip.

Since it was an integrated part of the body, cyberware merged with the aura of the person. That made it very hard to grasp it individually. Most psions never mastered the trick. Unravelling auras was one of the many things Yaden had learned while practising on the Calarni.

With a clear 3d map in his mind of where the people in this part of the base were and where they were moving, Yaden nodded to Ivan. They would try to dodge through to what Yaden thought were holding cells. Two were occupied, both by unmoving bodies which both were heavily augmented with cyberware. Sarisha hadn't mentioned whether her friend Geoff had any, but Yaden thought it was quite possible from what he had observed on Diatomee. They had been shown various pictures of Geoff so they would recognize their target.

Ivan opened the door and they slipped into the brightly lit corridor to swiftly move on. Yaden moved with his eyes closed, keeping his senses extended so they could stop or move faster as needed not to meet anyone.

He smiled as he remembered how much less adapt he had been at this when they had been exploring the tunnels inside Bora Bora. All the training since then had definitely paid off. Ivan was walking next to him, relaxed, confident and alert. He had changed even more than Yaden. The only part left of the angry, desperate young man was his foul mouth.

They stopped behind a corner to let two people pass.

"…not sure why we would use him, of all possible candidates!" One of them was complaining loudly.

Yaden caught a glimpse of white coats. Some sort of doctors he guessed.

"It is divine justice!" The other one exclaimed. "How dare you question the will of the God-Emperor?"

"Will of the God-Emperor my ass." The first one muttered. "The bitch wanted this. She probably didn't even…"

Then they turned another corner and were out of hearing range.

It made Yaden wonder if this really was a prison area. Those might be interrogators, but they had sounded more like the mad scientists employed in the R&D division of the Phoenix Knight Tower. If this was not the right place they'd have to start searching the whole base. If Geoff was even here still. Neither he nor Ivan were skilled at hacking a computer so they would have no way of getting more intel. Maybe he should have brought Myriam after all.

And maybe there was no point in second guessing his decision when he hadn't even made sure that they were in the wrong place.

They quickly continued on their way to the holding cells. The corridors all looked the same uniform steel grey with no markings or adornments on the walls. How the Terrans found their way through this warren without Yaden's supernatural senses, he had no idea. It certainly didn't look like a pleasant working space. But then the Terrans didn't seem to be pleasant people.

The corridor with the holding cells was behind another enforced security door. It would have been futile to try to break the sophisticated high tech lock so Yaden didn't bother. Instead he simply parted the wall right next to the door and they stepped through.

The doors to the individual cells were even stronger, but they had small windows set into them, so one could observe the occupants without opening the door. Judging from the various metal devices embedded in the walls they were probably under surveillance.

He went to the first occupied cell and peered through the window. A crumpled human form lay on the ground at the centre of the cell. It looked pretty dead, with large blaster burn marks all over and one arm and most of that shoulder missing entirely. In life the man must have been rather tall and muscular. Though most of it was burned off, a few strands of platinum blond hair still clung to the head.

Definitely not Geoff.

The next cell held exactly what they were looking for.

Tall as well, but more lanky with short dark hair and dark skin, the man sleeping on a bunk inside the cell looked exactly like the one on the photos Sarisha had shown them. He was only wearing simply grey drawstring pants, leaving the various patches on his body visible where wounds must have been treated.

Yaden breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Ivan. Then he started a more thorough scan of the surveillance equipment of the cell. Ideally they wanted to get Geoff out without anyone noticing. That wouldn't work when they were observed. If the surveillance was watched by someone, they might fool him into believing they were just regular Terran guards. If Yaden cut off the surveillance feed they might sent someone to check. He took a closer look at the door and then shook his head. Again there was no way he'd be able to break the lock. He'd have to make an entry of his own again so whoever was watching the feed would notice there was something wrong anyway. With a little flick of his fingers Yaden cut the various wires, running to the surveillance gear and then opened a new doorway in the wall next to the actual door.

His actions were soundless, but something must have caught the attention of the sleeping prisoners. He sat up at blink at then in surprise.

Yaden smiled at him reassuringly. "Hey, we are friends of Sarisha." He quickly introduced them. "We're where to get you out."

The reaction wasn't at all what he had hoped for.

Geoff's face drew into a deep scowl while a golden sheen suddenly covered his eyes. "I am Archangel Gabriel!" He announced with a ringing voice. "Surrender immediately to the mercy of the God-Emperor or you will be annihilated!"

"Uh…" Yaden exchanged a glance with Ivan and carefully stepped back behind his friend. "You are not an archangel. Your name is Geoff…" He tried again, even though their target had obviously been thoroughly brainwashed.

"I am Gabriel!" Geoff interrupted him and rose from his bunk, gold flaring all over his skin. "I have always been Gabriel."


	10. Chapter 10

Yaden managed to catch and absorb the energy component of the golden beam, but he hadn't expected the kinetic part. It hit him squarely in the chest and flung him back several meters into a still standing wall. He barely had the time to grasp the concrete and bend it around himself protectively, else he would have broken more bones than he cared to think about. As it was, he'd still sport a lot of bruises tomorrow.

If he lived to see tomorrow.

With a groan, he got back onto his feet to assess the situation.

At least they didn't have to worry about secrecy any longer. One moment he had still tried to convince Geoff that they were friends, the next the golden sheen of his skin had unfolded to become armour and he had extended white energy wings, which spanned nearly six meters.

Wings that were obviously not meant for use in enclosed spaces since they had exploded against the walls with destructive force, ripping them to shreds.

Yaden had shielded himself and Ivan from the hail of superheated concrete and steel with a protective shell of concrete, while Geoff roared in rage and shot upward on a wave of golden energy, destroying everything in his path.

Now Geoff - or rather Gabriel - was hovering above the smouldering crater he had erupted from, glaring down at them. His wings were not really interacting well with air either, crackling with golden lightning. Or maybe that was intentional to scare observers.

Alarms were blaring in the parts of the base he hadn't eradicated. Any Terrans who were not dead were sure to show up soon.

Ivan appeared out of the smoke and dust next to Yaden, now fully wreathed in flames with his sabres out.

"Well, that went to hell quickly." He commented, sounding mostly unhurt and unimpressed. "What the fuck do we do now?"

"ALL UNBELIEVERS SHALL BE OBLITERATED IN THE NAME OF THE GOD-EMPEROR!" Gabriel proclaimed in deafening volume. Apparently, his voice had been modified and enhanced as well.

A whole barrage of the golden beams rained down on them, but this time Ivan was in front of Yaden and he deftly deflected the beams with his sabres, elegantly handling both the energy and the kinetic force. There was a reason why he was the fighter in their team.

The ease he displayed only served to enrage Gabriel further. He roared with rage and spread his wings wider, then he brought his hands together to form an even larger blast. This time Ivan didn't give him the time to finish his move. He hurled a tight little ball of flame up at the Archangel, hitting him in the head.

Gabriel tumbled through the air, now screeching in pain. Yaden winced. He knew those tightly packed flame balls all too well, they were extra hot and fully charged with Ivan's will.

"We need to capture him..." Yaden thought aloud to remind Ivan of their objective as well. "Stun him, disable his cyberware, trap him... something..."

"You think, I keep him occupied." Ivan agreed and moved along the edge of the crater to draw Gabriel's attention away from Yaden. "Hey, angelboy!" He shouted up at their target. "Fuck you and your God-Emperor!"

Not the most creative of insults, but apparently sufficient as Gabriel caught himself in mid-air and sent another barrage of golden beams after Ivan.

Yaden quickly spread out his senses again to encompass more of the base. There were plenty of running feet, converging on the crater. As soon as they reached it they would become easy targets to him. With so much dust in the air it was like an extra sense had been added to his arsenal. Ideally, he would have wanted to be gone before this could turn into an all out brawl, but it looked like that wouldn't happen.

"Company incoming!" He shouted at Ivan, who was currently dodging behind the various pieces of smouldering rubble, trading fireballs for energy beams with the enraged archangel.

Squads of Terrans arrived from several directions at once. Yaden expected them to take a moment to assess the situation, but they immediately opened fire on him, Ivan - and Gabriel. They were firing with much more conventional blaster rifles, energy easily absorbed by Yaden and Ivan. Gabriel, on the other hand, clearly hadn't expected an attack from another party. He was hit repeatedly without much visible effect. That armour sure was amazingly strong and Gabriel wasn't amused at all.

"HERETICS!" He roared and turned his attention to the Terran squad firing at him, which had appeared on roof nearby. He repeated the manoeuvre where he brought his hands together to power up an extra strong attack. This time Ivan didn't stop him and moments later the roof and the Terrans were vaporized by a wave of golden light.

They definitely needed to thoroughly incapacitate him before they could bring him on board of Pebble, Yaden thought. The other Terrans decided that Gabriel was the biggest threat and focused their fire on him. Ivan used that advantage and carefully placed his own attacks on the Terrans in a way that would make it looked like they originated from Gabriel as well.

Yaden focused his attention on the archangel, mostly ignoring the erupting mayhem around him. The golden armour and the cyberware were made of metal. No fancy materials like the ones used by N'Bosoti or Calarni, just regular stuff that Yaden could easily grasp. He could probably use that to take control of Gabriel's movements, but he couldn't be sure that he wouldn't damage or even kill him as finely as everything was threaded with his body.

Suffocating him until he fell unconscious wasn't an option either. If archangels were built to survive in space, they had to have some sort of alternate way to generate oxygen and Yaden had no idea how to disable that.

"STOP!" A new, female voice shouted with authority. "We serve the God-Emperor! We are his holy fist! We bow to his divine will, manifest in his archangels!"

Yaden looked up to were a women in a white lab coat had appeared on another roof. She looked slightly dishevelled, but held herself with the confidence of someone who was used to being obeyed. Many of the Terrans did stop firing.

"Gabriel! We are..." She addressed the archangel directly, but was cut short.

Ivan had recognized the threat she posed to the merry chaos of the battle and acted accordingly. Yaden winced as the woman was engulfed by fire. Without any kind of shield or armour she didn't even have time to scream before she died.

While most of the Terrans renewed the attack on Gabriel immediately, some had noticed Ivan again now and fired at him. As if that wasn't enough, Yaden also noticed flying specks of metal closing in on them fast from further away from the base. Fighter crafts and helicopters, Yaden guessed. Reinforcements would arrive soon. He just had time to wonder whether the Quicksilver in orbit were picking up on any of the fighting when he sensed their crafts descending into the atmosphere, still cloaked but ready to join the fray.

"Fuck." Yaden muttered Ivan's favourite curse and once more focused on Gabriel. At least the archangel seemed rather confused, as he was shooting his energy beams at anything that moved, vaporizing more and more of the base.

Maybe he was over-thinking the whole problem. Maybe going with simple would be the solution, he thought and reached down through the smouldering crater to the bedrock below. He gathered up a large chunk and then threw it upward at the archangel. He quickly folded it out and then wrapped it around Gabriel, pouring it tightly against his body like liquid clay. The energy wings gave one last crackle and then winked out of existence as Gabriel's body, now encased in rock, crashed down. Yaden caught him easily. He sensed the energy racing through the cyberware, but there was no way he could move. The beam weapons were discharged repeatedly, but Yaden was prepared for that and absorbed the blast. It would take constant attention to keep Gabriel trapped, but he had him. He quickly pulled up more rock from below to wrap an extra layer around his makeshift prison.

Above them the roar of engines announced the arrival of the Terran fighters, immediately followed by blaster fire and explosions when the Quicksilvers uncloaked and rained down destruction from even higher up.

On the ground the Terran forces were concentrating their fire on Ivan, now that Gabriel was taken out of the equation. Yaden started channelling his own energy to his friend. With constantly absorbing all of Gabriel's attacks he was becoming dangerously overcharged anyway and he was sure Ivan would find something highly destructive to do with that extra power.

With Gabriel under control and both the Terran ground and air forces momentarily occupied it was high time to get out. Yaden cast out his senses for the familiar feeling of Pebble, only to find her much closer by than expected, moving at her slowest possible speed, close to the ground. Even though she was still cloaked she was throwing up a cloud of dust in her wake that would have been noticed by the Terrans if they hadn't been so very busy currently. Yaden silently blessed his daughter for acting on her own and so prudently.

He quickly moved over to the large lump of rock that held Gabriel and climbed onto it. It wasn't the slab of stone he usually used for travelling, but it would do. With his toes curled tightly into the rock, he had a much better grip on Gabriel as well. That freed up enough of his attention that he could reach out and gently pull Pebble in. At first she bucked against his will, but then Myriam realized what he was doing and released control of the ship to him.

"Ivan, our ride is here!" Yaden shouted over to his friend, who was busy killing off the last visible Terran forces. Yaden wasn't sure whether Ivan had killed them all or whether they had been smart enough to withdraw. He didn't really care either.

He held out his hand to help Ivan up onto the rock and then he lifted them higher to where Pebble was now hovering above them, effectively shielding them from the debris raining down from the aerial combat.

Myriam dropped the cloaking and Yaden steered the the rock inside the opened large hatch of the cargo bay. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ivan pulled the hatch closed behind them.

"Is he...?" Ivan started to ask, gesturing at the rock.

"Alive, conscious and very much kicking." Yaden replied. "You'll have to get us out of here, can't concentrate on flying."

Ivan grinned. "No problem, boss. Time to let Pebble relive some of those good old blockage runner times, eh?"

Mindful of the sheer destructive power they had already witnessed in Terran spaceships Yaden didn't feel quite as confident, but the knowledge that the Quicksilvers would guard them as well helped.

"Let's just get out of here as quickly as possible." He said, shooing Ivan towards the bridge.

Yaden himself settled atop his chunk of rock and concentrated on Gabriel within. The archangel was slowly getting tired, it seemed. Or maybe he was just bidding his time, hoping his captors would grow lax in their attention. Yaden didn't plan on giving him any opening, but he did cast out his senses to get a feeling of where they were going.

Pebble was accelerating, slow and steady. She only shuddered slightly when she grazed a Terran fighter. The much more fragile craft lost several vital parts and tumbled downwards.

Further up in orbit Yaden sensed bigger ships gathering. The Quicksilvers overtook Pebble and engaged these to distract them from Pebble. It annoyed Yaden to no end that he wasn't able to actively participate in the fight, but he had to admit that the Quicksilvers were good at what they were doing. Sarisha hadn't exaggerated when she had told tales of the fighter pilots prowess in battle.

Ivan displayed much less finesse and simply rammed his way through. Most of the attacks directed at Pebble glanced of her shields and thick hide, but Yaden felt a short burst of panic rise in him as he sensed a much larger energy beam cutting towards them from a larger cruiser type ship further out. He reached out to absorb it even though he was filled to the brim with energy already. Then he gave a startled laugh when he felt Myriam catch the blast before he could, deflecting some of it and devouring the rest.

He grinned as he sensed that energy focusing inside his daughter and then hurled back at that cruiser with the single minded will to destroy only an angry teenager could muster. Then his daughter's mind winked out. Mana burn, Yaden thought with a smile. Now she truly was a part of the team. Colin would have a fit when he heard of it.

"Getting ready for jump." Ivan's calm voice came over the in-ship com, as Yaden felt them clear the combat zone.

He pulled his senses back in, fully focusing on Gabriel's rocky prison again. Moments later the strange feeling of nothingness that Yaden experienced when jumping came up around Pebble. They were clear.

Whether all of the Quicksilvers had made it out they would only know once they emerged from the jump, now that they were not connected.


	11. Chapter 11

"That is just absolutely amazing." Jenny said in a hushed voice.

She and Yaden were standing at a window overlooking the central surgery chamber of Diatomee's medbay. The huge operation table at the centre was surrounded by all sorts of high tech equipment that looked entirely arcane and incomprehensible to Yaden.

The table was currently occupied by a heavily sedated and restrained archangel. Gabriel - or Geoff - was lying on his belly with various cables plucked into sockets that ran all along his spine. He looked entirely undamaged by their fight, which was rather impressive considering the beating he had taken both with energy weapons from the Terrans and Ivan's psionic fire.

He had fought against his imprisonment in Yaden's rock all the way back to Diatomee. The jump had taken several hours and Yaden had grown desperate of what to do with all the extra energy he was siphoning off. Perched on the rock like a brooding hen on a huge egg, he had used the time and energy to thoroughly repair Pebble's armour, condensing stone and metal to make it even more impenetrable. Then he had refilled Ivan's reserves. By the time they emerged from the jump he had itched all over with too much energy.

So he had reached out to one of the suns that Diatomee hung between, clawed his powers into it and simply pulled, throwing all that extra power into it. Of course the sun hadn't budged, but it had instantly helped.

The Quicksilvers had come out of their jumps moments later and their com had filled with excited questions. All of them had made it out safely and all of them were in equal measures jubilant that they had managed to extract Geoff and horrified by the fact that the Terrans had apparently changed their friend into one of their despised archangels.

After docking, they had immediately unloaded the rock and transferred Geoff to the medbay. There Yaden had met Sarisha's mother for the first time. Where Sarisha was towering over Yaden the much older Irtamen was only a little taller than him, stooped forward like a wizened tree, with greying fur. She also was grouchy, rude and annoyed at them and the universe in general for disturbing her realm.

Once they had deposited the rock inside the surgery chamber, Yaden had opened a small canal for Irtamen to reach the man in side so she could administer her sedatives. Only when both Irtamen and Yaden's scans had showed them that Geoff seemed to be out cold, had Yaden peeled of the rock so they could put him on the table.

Then Irtamen had shooed all of them out with scathing obscenities so she could work in peace. Once they were safely out of her hearing range, Caro had informed Yaden with obvious mocking that Thanaris grew meaner with age and that Irtamen was the oldest one she knew. There really wasn't anything the Quicksilvers could do to help now, but they still refused to leave the medbay, waiting for news on their friend.

Yaden himself had been ready to return to Pebble to check on his daughter when he had been intercepted by Jenny with the question whether he had already had a chance to talk to his husband. Apparently their dinner date had gone well enough that Colin had given his permission for her to take genetic samples. She had been so adorable in her excitement that Yaden hadn't had the heart to tell her no. So he followed her deeper into the warren of labs, surgery rooms and wards that was Diatomee's medbay.

On their way, they came past the window to the main surgery chamber and Jenny stopped to gaze in awe at the holo display hovering above the table. It showed Geoff's body in transparent form with all the cyberware embedded made visible. Yaden had sensed it, but seeing it was a different matter. It truly was amazing how the Terrans had managed to cram all that into a human body.

"Doesn't Irtamen need you in there?" Yaden asked Jenny.

She shook her head with a huff. "Heavens, no. She'd bite my head off if I dared to disturb her. Besides, cybernetics is her speciality, not mine. I'm more into genetics and actual healing." She leaned forward a little and squinted at the holo display. "They've really done a number on poor Geoff." she muttered, now less awed and deeply worried. "I really hope Irtamen will figure out a way to restore his personality. At least we can be sure she will try her level best to save him. Heavens know what Sarisha will do if she loses him permanently."

"I thought Sarisha is with William?" Yaden asked.

Jenny blinked at him in surprise. "What? Oh, yes, she is. But Geoff has been her best friend forever. The two of them grew up together, right here on the station. Sarisha was born here and Geoff was taken in by Ruffon when he was still a baby. Irtamen was the medic on Ruffon's crew when they discovered Diatomee. They're the backbone of this place. Without Geoff being the voice of reason it's only a matter of time until Sarisha gets herself killed. And both Ruffon and Irtamen losing their kids... No telling what that would do to the power balance on Diatomee." She huffed unhappily. "Irtamen is grumpy enough as it is."

Yaden looked through the window with renewed interest. Sarisha's mother was prowling around the table with the archangel, taking all sorts of readings. She didn't look happy, but that was probably her normal expression. Yaden mentally ran through his options of how he might help and came up with nothing. This truly was well outside any area of his expertise.

"So I take it your dinner with my husband was a success?" He asked instead to distract Jenny from her unhappy thoughts.

The fact that she suddenly blushed was a big clue that she had finally caught on to the fact that Colin was flirting with her shamelessly. "Uh, yes..." She said and rubbed her neck with obvious embarrassment. "He really is incredibly charming."

"Yes, he is." Yaden agreed with a fond smile.

"So... uh..." Jenny continued. "He explained some customs of your people. Like that your marriage laws seem a lot less strict than... well... uh..."

She was blushing even more now and looking anywhere but at Yaden. She looked utterly adorable and Yaden quickly came to her rescue. "You mean to ask whether I mind that he is flirting with you?" he asked. "I don't." At least Colin was good at flirting. Yaden had no idea how to let Jenny know that she was pretty much the first human woman he had ever felt attracted to.

"Oh." Jenny looked up with a shy smile. "I guess... okay..." She suddenly laughed. "I actually have no idea how to... well... he really is very... everything... humans are rare and not that popular out here. It's not like anyone has ever been interested in me..."

"They should be." Yaden replied earnestly. "You are smart and pretty and brave." Then he realized what a silly compliment that had to be for a grown up woman and blushed himself.

He was rather grateful when Jenny didn't laugh at his clumsiness and instead smiled at him. "Thank you." She said softly.

For a moment they stood there, both a little embarrassed and unsure what to say next. Jenny caught herself first. "So, let's take those samples, shall we? I'm don't want to keep you from your charming husband any longer than necessary."

She led him away from the window. Yaden followed, feeling a little out of his depth. His experience with flirting was rather limited, considering he had only ever actually dated Colin. He felt a stab of sadness, thinking about her, the twins' mother. There had been no shy compliments between them. She had not given him a chance to doubt her intentions and he'd only realized she had played him masterfully the whole time, after she had left.

This was so very different. It felt like walking on very thin ice towards an unknown location to Yaden, every step placed with caution and care. He felt drawn to Jenny's smile. She was probably a whole lot smarter than him and definitely better looking, so he really didn't see why she would be interested in him beyond the fact that he was a source of fascinating genetic material and married to a much more attractive man who was flirting with her. He was a little surprised that he didn't feel jealous at all. Maybe a little bit of Colin, that he so easily managed to fluster a woman he had just met. But then, he had felt the same way when he had first seen his beloved that fateful morning back on Leichnam, when Colin stepped from his bakery into the misty morning, to put up the signs for that day's bread.

Yaden smiled at the fact that this particular moment was still etched into his memory so vividly. He loved Colin and he had no doubt that Colin loved him just as madly. So there really was no reason why Colin shouldn't have some fun with a pretty woman like Jenny. If it wasn't for the fact that Yaden felt drawn to her as well and didn't want to see her hurt. He'd really have to talk to Colin about this and make sure his husband had honourable intentions.

They arrived at a large lab, crammed full with all sorts of technical equipment, none of which looked familiar to Yaden. His medical expertise encompassed basic first aid and how to operate a healing tank.

"What exactly do you want the sample for anyway?" He asked curiously, while Jenny turned on various machines.

"I want to compare your DNA." She used the same explanation she had given the last time. It still didn't mean much more to Yaden and she noticed his puzzled look. "I can look at separate DNA strands. I want to see what is different between yours and that of humans from this galaxy. Visually we seem the same, but there are differences. For example I might be able to single out which strand means that you have psionic abilities. It's..." She shrugged. "I'm not sure it has any actual practical applications. I'm just really curious."

She came over to him with a conical device. "This will sting just a little." She explained as she placed it against his arm.

Yaden barely felt the sting. "That's all?"

Jenny nodded with a happy grin, carrying the device back to one of her machines to insert it into a fitting slot. "Yep. I've already taken a sample from Colin so I have two from your side. It would be awesome if I could get one from your fire wielding friend as well...?"

She made perfect puppy eyes at him, making Yaden chuckle. "Sure, I'll ask Ivan about it."

He curiously peered at the large screen that Jenny moved to now. There were several displays of DNA helix on it. He only knew what those looked like from watching crime investigation procedurals on trideo with Myriam.

"Will it take long for you to find out... whatever it is you are looking for...?" He asked.

"The computer is doing most of the work." Jenny answered. "See, this is my DNA, these are from random human patients I've treated over the years." She pointed out a set of five helix on one side of the screen. "And this is Colin." She pointed at the lone helix on the other side. "Yours will be up in a moment."

Yaden stepped closer to get a better look. "They look the same to me." He said after a while.

"Oh, yes you have to know what you are looking for." Jenny chuckled. "Here, let me show you."

She tapped a few keys and her own helix and that of Colin were overlaid on the screen. Then the computer started singling out strands and showing them side by side. Now Yaden could see the differences she had been talking about.

"See, this strand and this one." Jenny pointed at two. "Those don't appear in our DNA at all. Oh, and here is yours." She zoomed on the new helix and then pulled up two comparisons, one with her own and one with Colin's. "Interesting, yours and Colin's are a very close match. Are you from the same planet?"

Yaden shook his head. "No. Actually the population of his planet is famous for their inbreeding."

"Fascinating." Jenny zoomed in on various strands too quick for Yaden to follow. "But Colin is not a psion, right?"

"Nope."

Jenny leaned even closer to the screen and frowned at it.

"What?" Yaden asked, wondering if there was something wrong with what she was seeing.

"There really should be more variations." Jenny muttered. She again overlaid two helix and let the computer run his strand extracting thing. It found next to no differences. "This is really unusual. The only variations I do see are very minor mutations. It looks like you both come from the same very small stock. You normally only see this when the population of a species has been reduced to a very low number before recovering again." She now frowned at Yaden.

"Well, humanity numbers in the trillions at home." Yaden said. "Just our empire consists of nearly two hundred planets and there are countless worlds we have lost contact with. But the whole thing is weird. I mean, why would there be humans here and at home anyway. We even speak the same language. We both call our planet of origin Terra..."

"You do...?" Jenny's eyes were wide with curiosity and excitement and Yaden just manage to catch himself before he could say something silly again. "Oh, please, tell me more. I want to know..."

She was interrupted by an insistent beep from one of her consoles. "Fucking hell! Why now?!" She exclaimed and hit a button. "What?!" She barked into what probably was a com unit.

"There has been a shoot out in the 'Chanceless'." A male voice said. "We have several dead and injured. Irtamen is not responding..."

"She's busy." Jenny growled.

"Is this a bad time...?" The male voice asked, sounding more amused than cowed.

"Yes! Yes this is a very bad time, Jan!" Jenny huffed. "I'm coming." She cut the com and then looked at Yaden apologetically. "I'm so sorry. I'd have loved to..."

Yaden smiled at her. "No problem. I should get back to Pebble and look how my daughter is doing anyway. I'm sure we'll find another time to compare history notes." Preferably with Myriam present, who was a walking talking encyclopedia, he added in his thoughts.

"I would really like that." Jenny smiled back at him, which once more did funny things to his stomach. Then she picked up an old fashioned leather doctor's bag from under a table. "I'll show you out so you don't get lost." She offered and Yaden just didn't have the heart to tell her that he never got lost. After all it would be a few more minutes he got to spend in her company.


	12. Chapter 12

The jumpgate loomed larger and larger in front of them. Yaden had passed through these gates countless times on his travels, but he now realized that he had never really paid attention to the gates themselves. They were monumentally huge, big enough for a small moon to fit through. Ships rarely got close to the actual ring, but just passed through the field they generated inside that ring.

Now they were approaching the ring and on their viewscreen it grew more and more detailed. The metal it was made from looked dull, but it was also intricately carved with swirling motives that might be alien runes or mere decoration. The colour of the metal was rust red and Yaden for the first time wondered what the gates were made of. He reached with his senses for the metal and found it utterly boring, the decorations much more interesting.

"Is that some sort of script?" He asked his daughter, who was carefully monitoring their slow approach.

Myriam looked up from her screen. "No one knows. There seem to different sets of gates. From the style of decoration one can tell what the set up of the controls will be like. This type is classified as a slug gate."

"A slug gate?" Ivan echoed. "What is that supposed to mean? That it's especially slow?"

"No, Vanya." Myriam corrected him condescendingly and grinning at the same time. "It means that the interior is configured for creatures who our scientists think must have had the proportions of a big slug. Unlike for example the Terra gate which is configured for something incredibly large, probably with four or more appendixes."

"Right." Ivan squinted at the main screen again. "So where do we get a slug to work the controls?"

Myriam threw her pen in his general direction and they both laughed. They were happy and it made Yaden smile fondly. When he had packed up his whole family for this mission he hadn't been sure how they would hold up. Especially how Myriam would fit into the well worn team that he and Ivan had become. But the more they worked together, the more it felt like she should always been there. Myriam made Ivan laugh and smile when he fell into brooding seriousness. In turn Ivan's mix of teasing and helpful advice kept Myriam from complete disappearing inside some book or file. They weren't just good together, they were better.

Yaden gently picked at the metal parts of the pen and lifted it up to float it back to his daughter. "Thanks, dad." she muttered as she plucked it out of the air and stuck it behind her ear again.

The gate they were approaching was the one at the edge of the Diatomee system. They had made a short jump out here from the station, skipping the usual travel time of nearly a week from the habitable zone of a system to the jumpgate. Myriam had spent the last few days learning from Vio how to plot a jump and program their new jumpdrive. Eventually Yaden and Ivan wanted to learn as well, but for now it was sufficient if the smartest of them new how to do it.

They had decided to use the Diatomee gate to try and get home. The system was far removed from any from civilized space so there was little chance that the Terrans would detect what they were doing. The system they had arrived in had belonged to the Terrans so that explained why their use of the gate had been noticed and why the Terran fleet had been waiting at it. Using this gate also meant that if they wanted to visit again they would emerge near friends.

The ring of the gate by now was a monumental wall in front of them illuminated only by Pebble's flashlights and the low light from the far away suns. The decorations turned out to be trenches deep and wide enough that Pebble or even larger ships could have easily parked inside them.

"How do we get inside?" Yaden asked. He could not see any obvious way to enter the gate's inside.

"Just fly along the ring." Myriam answered. "I'm scanning for entries."

Yaden obediently steered Pebble on a path following the outer edge of the ring.

"Can't you just scan it?" Ivan asked him. "I mean, it's made of metal, you should be able to to find where it is hollow, right?"

Yaden peered at the metal wall that was sliding past outside thoughtfully. Of course he could scan it, but Pebble's scanners would probably be just as quick so why bother. He shrugged and was about to tell Ivan just that, when Myriam made a sound of triumph.

"Got it!" she announced. The view of the trenches on the main screen was overlaid with a green rectangle. "If you park Pebble about here we can get to the entry hatch over here." A smaller green rectangle marked a spot in the wall of the trench Myriam had picked as a landing place.

The bottom of the trench was nice and flat, making it easy for Yaden to settle Pebble down. Myriam pointed the Pebble's flashlights at the spot where she thought the entrance to the gate was. A round opening was all they could see from on board.

"Should we take suits?" Ivan asked as they all got up from the stations on the bridge.

Myriam shook her head. "Slug gates have oxygen based atmosphere inside. As soon as we make it through the lock we can breath and dad can keep up an air bubble for us while we get there."

She glanced at him to confirm and Yaden nodded. "No problem."

All of them were wearing enough metal or stone bits in their clothing that Yaden could easily use that to move them to the entrance.

They moved to Pebble's hatch.

Yaden had had a long debate with the engineers when Pebble had been modernized. They had planned to exchange the old fashioned mechanic lock for a new, automatic version. Yaden had resisted. The old lock was working perfectly fine and it had the great advantage that it still worked if power was cut for some reason. It also could be opened completely even in a vacuum. That obviously was not something any sane person would want to do. Apart from the fact that it allowed Yaden to take as much or as little air as he pleased with him when he left Pebble.

He pulled the air around him, Ivan and Myriam in a large bubble as they exited, while firmly keeping the rest of it inside Pebble, before he pulled the hatch shut.

Myriam stared around with awe at the open depth of space and the stark metal walls of the gate. So far she had only once been in open space with Yaden - and without a suit - a few days earlier when they had practised for this occasion.

"Oh, dad, this is... amazing." She whispered, sneaking her hand into his. "I wonder if I can learn to do this, too."

Her fine control over her pyrokinetic abilities had grown quite firm, but her skills at controlling the weather still were rather lethal. In theory she was perfectly capable of conjuring up a storm that would devastate whole regions. She also had no control over these storms and no idea whatsoever how to bring them down again. Controlling an air bubble would still take a ton of training if she would ever manage to do it at all.

"If you work on it hard enough, who knows." Yaden answered cautiously.

She smiled up at him. "Maybe I'll just concentrate on what I'm good at and leave that part to you then." She suggested, once more making Yaden proud.

Being able to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses and accepting them was no small accomplishment for a teenager. Yaden squeezed her hand approvingly and then he moved all of them in their bubble over to the large round opening where Pebble's lights were pointing.

As they got closer Myriam suddenly made a distressed sound. "Uhoh, that's not good."

Ivan's immediately looked around them for potential threats, while Yaden followed Myriam's gaze to the opening. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"The outer lock is open." Myriam said.

She took a smaller, handheld flashlight from her belt, activated it and pointed it into the darkness of the opening. Now Yaden could see a serrated edge running around just inside the opening. A little further in there was a closed portal, fitted into a similar edge, only this one was smooth.

"I take it that should be closed?" Ivan asked.

"Of course it should be closed." Myriam growled. "It looks severely damaged. Never heard of anything like this."

Yaden shrugged. "We also thought jumpgates were indestructible and that didn't prove true." He said. "Let's take a closer look."

They entered the opening. It wasn't quite clear how it had been done, but the actual portal that would have completed the lock was missing, violently torn from the frame.

"Who steals a lock portal?" Myriam hissed incredulously.

"Criminals?" Ivan suggested with a smirk.

It earned him a punch from Myriam. "Thank you, Squire Obvious. So helpful."

"Well, we are in a system that is inhabited by criminals." Yaden said, studying the second portal. "I guess we need to be thankful that they didn't take the second portal too." The portal looked quite sturdy and Yaden wondered how the thieves had managed to take the missing one. And of course why they would steal a portal in the first place. Wasn't like you could actually do anything with it.

Myriam moved over to the second portal and started fiddling with what Yaden guessed was the opening mechanism. After a moment she snorted in disgust. "It went into emergency lock, but whoever stole the portal broke that as well and forced it open. Bloody morons, letting the precious air escape."

"Should I go back and get more air from Pebble for us?" Yaden asked.

"Normally the gate produces air." Myriam answered. "This looks like the break in was quite a while ago so the inner atmosphere should have had time to regenerate. Just be ready to hold the air in when it opens."

Yaden nodded and raised his hands. "Ready."

Myriam poked the controls again and the portal slowly opened, parting into four pieces which receded into the wall. The inside was filled with air, just like Myriam had predicted and Yaden quickly pushed against it to keep it for escaping.

As soon as Myriam shone her flashlight inside she started cursing, using an impressive variety of swear words she had to have picked up from Ivan. The reason for her anger was obvious. The tunnel leading away from the lock looked to have originally been a smooth tube, but now it looked rather wrecked. The thieves had torn out something which had run the length of the tube's ceiling.

"Thorough bastards." Ivan commented and stepped inside first to meet whatever threat might await them.

"They stole the fucking lighting!" Myriam growled.

"I guess we should be grateful they didn't steal the whole gate." Ivan replied and quickly moved further in before Myriam could punch him again.

Myriam closed the portal behind them so Yaden could release his hold on the air and merge their bubble with the inner atmosphere. They followed the tube. It quickly became obvious that the thieves had stolen anything they were able to break off. There was evidence that they had tried their best to pull cables and wire out as far as possible. They had even tried to somehow cut their way into the walls of the tube, but had failed at that.

The tube emerged into a spherical chamber with the wrecked remains of control elements embedded into the floor.

"Mh." Myriam muttered and crouched down to examine what was left more closely. "Vanya, can you please give me some more light here?" she asked after a moment and Ivan broad a steady flame to life above her head. She was getting very good at controlling large fire effects, but a tiny light still required a lot of attention which she now needed on figuring out how badly the controls were damaged.

Yaden and Ivan let her work in peace and instead looked around. The room looked rather boring and utilitarian. There were none of the decorations they had seen on the outside of the gate, just dull red metal. Once more Yaden wondered what exactly the gates were made of, that withstood great forces so easily. It looked like some sort of metal, but without ever having examined one he couldn't be sure. There had to be a reason why someone had thought it worth stealing. It made him wonder what else they had managed to take and whether the gate even worked still. If he extended his senses and got a good scan of the interior of the gate he would be able to see whether they had managed to break in anywhere else, but he really didn't want to disturb Myriam.

He blinked at his daughter. How would that disturb Myriam? She wouldn't even notice he was doing anything. With a deep frown he looked up and stared hard at the metal of the gate. He wanted to know what it was. Why didn't he look? Because it really wasn't that important, his gut told him. Bullshit, Yaden thought. Ignoring his suddenly intensely bad feeling he pushed his senses outward to examine the structure of the metal. It was perfectly ordinary. Nothing special about it at all. Nothing that would warrant a closer look.

Yaden chuckled when he realized what had been happening to him and probably every other psion who had ever tried to scan a gate before. It was a brillianty subtle effect, imbedded in the material itself which made anyone trying to look at it too closely lose interest or find reasons not to look. Similar to the one the N'Bosoti used, but not crafted with brute force and absolute, but rather elegant and fluid. Beautiful really. Had the Nosoti built the gates? Quite possibly. It did feel very different from the material Diatomee was made of, though.

Closing his eyes, Yaden let his senses flow outward again. The urge not to look was still there, but now that he was aware of it, he was able to circumvent it. It was impossible to ignore, as it constantly found new ways to interfere with his desire to study the gate, but he managed to push through it.

The metal of the gate was truly amazing. It felt smooth and supple, but at the same time incredibly durable. The deeper he delved into it, the more he understood how it had been crafted and sparks of ideas started to pop up in his mind, how he might emulate the same strength in Pebble's armour plating.

"Right." Myriam's voice brought him back to the small control chamber. "They've stolen the interfacing parts, but as far as I can see only the wiring leading down is slightly damaged while everything else if alright."

"So can we use it?" Ivan asked.

Myriam frowned. "No. Without any way to interface with the system I can't get in to get the codes we need."

"Rats. It was such a nice plan." Ivan grumbled. "So what do we do now?"

"I see two options," Myriam offered, "either we use a gate in another remote system or we find another slug gate, steal the interface and install it back here so we can use this one."

Both Ivan and Yaden blinked at her in surprise. "Why would we go through that kind of trouble when we could just use another gate?" Ivan asked the question Yaden thought as well.

Myriam smiled up at them with sly hope. "Because it would give me a chance to look at lots of jumpgates and muck around with their tech...?" She answered. "I mean, I'll never even be allowed inside a gate unsupervised at home. Think of all the stuff I could learn!"

Yaden and Ivan exchanged a long look and with it all the various degrees of disbelief, arguing about how stupid this idea was, how interesting it would be to do it, how Myriam was probably right and then their agreement that they would do it.

"Okay." Yaden decided, much to his daughter's delight.


	13. Chapter 13

Yaden grunted with bliss as Colin's finger dug deeper into his shoulder muscles, doing all sorts of wonderful things to him. Any tension had long since fled and with it any hit of pain. Now he just thoroughly enjoyed the sensations his husband was creating so effortlessly. There were many advantages of being married to a baker ranging from the heavenly smell of fresh bread in Colin's hair to eating said bread in any quantity you desired. But the fact that kneading all that dough made Colin's hands also very apt at kneading Yaden definitely numbered high on Yaden's list.

They were on the bed in their spacious bedroom on Pebble. After an extended combat training session with Ivan, Yaden had taken an afternoon nap and been woken by a very naked Colin cuddling against him under the blankets. Resisting his husband had proven impossible. If Colin wanted something he almost always got it from Yaden and there really was no reason Yaden could come up with not to want hot sex with his gorgeous husband.

The fresh memories made him purr with happiness. Falling in love with Colin definitely was the best thing to happen to him in all his life. He had to be doing something right when he was rewarded with such happiness, he thought. He was sure that Colin was everything he would ever need to stay happy. So why did his mind suddenly slip to Jenny and how much he adored her smiles, he wondered.

"Love, can I ask you something?" he asked, a little muffled since he was lying on his belly with Colin straddling his back.

"Yes?" Colin slowed down his kneading and leaned down to gently nibble at Yaden's neck.

Yaden groaned, as his body vividly remembered what they had done before this. "This... is... really distracting..." He muttered and then shuddered when Colin chuckled and he felt his lover's breath against his skin. He twisted under Colin so he came to lie on his back and could look up at him. With his hair tousled from their love making and his dark eyes sparkling with mirth he looked impossibly beautiful. "I love you." Yaden said softly and reached up to stroke his thumb along Colin's jaw.

Colin turned his head so he could place a kiss on Yaden's thumb and smiled. "You wanted to ask something...?" he reminded Yaden.

"Yes... Jenny." Yaden said and forcefully pulled his mind and body back from the option of a second course. "I wanted to ask... what exactly are your plans concerning Jenny...?"

"Huh?" Colin blinked, taken by surprise.

"Yeah, well... you flirt with her, you have dinner dates with her..." Yaden tried to explain. "Where is this going?"

Colin sat back and settles more comfortably on Yaden, obviously giving serious thought to the question. "Honestly, I'm not sure." He said after a moment. "I'm... she is pretty awesome..." he shrugged. "If I wasn't with you I would very seriously pursue her."

"I didn't even know you were into girls." Yaden said curiously.

"Neither did I until now." Colin laughed. "I really thought I was properly gay. Must be the Dracon thing rubbing off on me." He smiled down at Yaden. "So, what are your thoughts on the matter?"

"I agree that she is pretty awesome." Yaden said. "She is smart and funny and her smile is almost as pretty as yours. I also think it would be incredibly unfair to keep flirting with her unless you have... honourable intentions... cause she is pretty smitten with you."

"She is?"

The smug undertone in Colin's voice made Yaden grin. "Of course she is. Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Colin had the good grace to blush a little. "Hey, it's not like I'm a professional heart-breaker or something." He defended himself. "Before I met you there wasn't anyone seriously interested in me at all."

Yaden snorted and possessively ran his hands over Colin's naked flanks. "If you'd lived anywhere but on Leichnam there would have been a queue around the block of guys wanting to marry you." He said. "I was so very lucky to find you first."

"Mh." Colin agreed and leaned down to kiss Yaden briefly. "So, honourable intentions." He returned to the subject of Jenny. "You mean like, marry her?"

"We could." Yaden thought aloud. "Many Dracon have multiple spouses. I mean, look at the Duke of Malicorn..."

For a moment they both remained silent, pondering the idea.

"Is it weird that I can't really see a reason not to, apart from her disagreeing?" Colin asked after a while.

Once more, Yaden chuckled. "Well, you've made it plain before you aren't adverse to the idea. But I think we still need to get to know her better. We've been here... what... two weeks now?"

"Bah, you are being all sensible about this." Colin complained with a pout. "What about love at first sight? What about passion and madness?"

"I am madly in love with you." Yaden replied calmly. "This is different. Jenny... she makes me feel happy when I'm around her."

"I get that butterfly feeling in my belly when she smiles." Colin admitted.

The mere thought that someone could make Colin feel that way made Yaden smile. He loved everything that made his husband happy. "I guess, that decides it then..." He said, but was rudely cut short when the door to their bedroom banged open.

"Dad? Are you ready to..." Myriam started to say, but broke off when she saw them on the bed. "EWH! PARENT SEX! GROSS!" She exclaimed and quickly turned away.

Both Colin and Yaden laughed. "You wouldn't have to witness this if you just learned not to barge in like that." Colin admonished, but he did pull the blanket up around them.

"Am I ever sorry." Myriam muttered. "My innocence...gone, my whole childhood is ruined, I tell you! And how was I to know you'd... do the thing when me and Dad have a meeting with Doc Jenny to discuss history?"

"Oh..." A quick glance at the clock on the nightstand showed Yaden that it was much later than he had thought. "I'm sorry, dear, Colin distracted me." He firmly kissed Colin and then lifted his husband off himself.

Colin grinned at him cheekily. "So you are going on dates with her, too?"

"We are NOT going on a date!" Myriam answered before Yaden could. "This is scientific research!"

Yaden nodded, while picking up his pants from the floor and putting them on. "You hear her? Not a date."

"Uhum..." Colin agreed, grinning even wider. "I totally believe you."

"Jeesh, you two are impossible! I'll wait at the hatch." Myriam growled. "Don't make we wait!" She departed with an imperious toss of her hair.

Colin watched her go with a fond smile, while Yaden put on his shirt and bracers.

"Is this a clever ploy to introduce her to her maybe future mom?" Colin asked.

The thought hadn't crossed Yaden's mind, but now that he thought about it, the idea made sense. After all, it would be really awkward if Myriam hated Jenny. "It is now." he replied and leaned down to kiss Colin goodbye. "We'll be back for dinner, love."

He met his daughter at Pebble's hatch and together they made their way to the Chez Chantale, where they were meeting with Jenny. Since Irtamen had been busy with her work on Geoff, Jenny had suddenly become the chief medic on the station which amounted a nearly around the clock workday. There was always some new shoot out or freshly arrived badly injured pirate crew that demanded attention. So she had not had a chance to meet up with Yaden and compare notes on humanities history like she had wanted to.

Yesterday, news had swept the station that Irtamen had figured out a way to bring Geoff's personality back, quickly followed by Sarisha showing up at the Pebble to give them a more in depth report. She had as little understanding of the technical details as Yaden, but apparently the archangel persona was actually part of a control chip which could be removed. The creepy part was that the persona safe was backed up by the Terrans so they could simply upload the whole archangel personality to a newly modified archangel. Which explained the 'I have always been Gabriel' line Geoff had been shouting. From what Irtamen had found so far, the Gabriel persona was in use for several centuries already, getting transferred via the backup from host to host whenever the current archangel body was damaged beyond repair.

The more Yaden learned of the Terrans, the less he liked them.

With the removal of the chip and some additional tinkering, Irtamen had managed to restore Geoff's control over his own body. He was still in an artificial coma and Irtamen had no idea how he would cope with the ridiculous amounts of cyberware which were now a part of him, but at least he was alive and not a monstrous archangel.

Jenny had called this morning, gleefully informing them that she had managed to sleep a whole, uninterrupted six hours and would have the afternoon free, so she would love to meet for coffee and pie at William's bistro.

Mostly Colin or Darren were keeping the family fed, but for quick snacks, and ample opportunity to observe Diatomee's fascinating denizens, the Chez Chantale was perfect. William had managed to establish the bistro as a combat free zone with the help of his towering girlfriend and the fact that his brother Jan served in the station's security force. And of course it helped that a great many people on Diatomee enjoyed the chance to eat without fearing imminent death.

Jenny was already there when Yaden and Myriam arrived and had secured a small table at the back where there was less traffic. Since it was after the lunch rush and before dinner, the bistro wasn't as packed as usual. She greeted them with that special smile and Yaden smiled as well when he remembered what Colin had said - about the butterflies in his belly.

It was the first time Myriam met her and Yaden was a little worried that Jenny would dismiss her as a little girl that wouldn't be smart or educated enough to be of consequence to their conversation. He made a point of introducing her as the font of knowledge in his team and also that he had brought her along specifically because she knew so much more about Phoenix Empire history than he did. At first Jenny seemed rather dubious, so after they had ordered tea and some pie of the day, Yaden started explaining what he knew about history.

That humanity had started spreading from Terra about 3000 years ago and that they had collapsed back into a low tech phase after between then and now and lost contact to a lot of colonized worlds, while Myriam added details.

Jenny then told them that the Terrans over here had a history reaching much further back. Their so called God-Emperor was supposedly the same entity for over 7000 years already, which explained how he had managed to gain such absolute control over the human race.

"I wonder if maybe some humans fled through a jumpgate to our galaxy when he came into power." Myriam hypothesised, stirring amazing amounts of sugar into her tea. "As far as I know, the oldest human built structures on our Terra are about 6000 years old. A lot has been destroyed through various wars, but it would fit the time frame."

That kicked both of them into full brainiac mode and Yaden leaned back, listened to them make up various possibly scenarios and ate lots of pie. As soon as Jenny realized that Myriam was an equal discussion partner, she dropped all her 'adult talking to kid' atitude. Myriam in turn seemed delighted to finally have someone to talk to who was as smart and interested in random scientific facts as she was.

Watching them interact, Yaden felt that warm happiness once more. He was madly in love with Colin, but he was really falling for Jenny, too, he realized. This love was different, it was calm and mellow instead of burning and consuming, but it was just as real and true. It made him wonder what her hair would smell like after she had spent an afternoon in the sun at the beach on his little island. He wasn't sure how to tell her, though, without looking like a love-sick fool.

Then again, he didn't have to. Luckily, he had a husband who was much better at flirting than he was.

Tomorrow, he, Ivan and Myriam would take Pebble on an extended trip to visit various jumpgates and hopefully find one they would be able to salvage for the the local gate. They expected to be gone at least a week. Plenty of time for Colin to spend time with Jenny and figure out whether she felt like Yaden and Colin did.


	14. Chapter 14

"That gives us three functioning gates we could use to get home or to jump back to from our galaxy." Myriam stated happily as she packed away the last of her technical gizmos into her bag.

For over a week now, they had hopped from system to system with their brand new jumpdrive. Myriam had used the opportunity to explain its basic function and controls to Yaden and Ivan. While they still weren't able to program new routes, they were now able to plot jumps to known coordinates. The jumpdrive came with an extensive list of such coordinates, covering most of the inhabited systems of this galaxy.

Myriam had also warned them that at home, it would take a while to compile a similar list of Phoenix Empire systems. She was already making plans on how best to do it, consisting of a mix of visiting each system via jumpgate and coordinating her data with the teleporters of the Psions Guild. Yaden had promised he would get her all the assistance she needed from the Phoenix Knight Tower, even though he was pretty sure he would rather be needed to make sure the project remained in her hands and wasn't usurped by some egghead like Dr. Heganski.

While Myriam had studied all the the gates they had visited, only three of them had proven suitable to get them home. Apparently not all gates were equipped for long distance jumps and of those that were not all could be used to jump back to their particular galaxy. Myriam was still trying to figure out a pattern, but she maintained that a lot more data and research would be necessary.

"So are we going to use one of these gates or do we keep looking for a slug gate?" Ivan asked.

Yaden just had to take a look at his daughter's face to see what she hoped for. She was getting really good at the puppy eyes thing.

"I'd really like to keep looking." She said. "I've learned so much already... And I still think using the Diatomee gate would be wise."

"I guess we can do a few more." Yaden said, glancing at Ivan for confirmation.

Ivan shrugged. "I don't mind either way. Not like we're getting bored while you poke and prod at the damn things."

Yaden and Ivan were using the down time for various training exercises like synergy effects and maintaining fire in vacuum. Yaden was also studying the various gates in his own way, practising to push through their inherent 'you don't want to look at me' effect and also schooling himself in noticing it. It was an effect many empaths liked to use as well and being able to detect it might prove useful one day.

"If we still haven't found a slug gate we can salvage in another week, we head back and use the gate in that system three days ago. The one with the funny sun." Yaden decided.

"It's not a funny sun, dad." Myriam admonished gently. "It's a red dwarf. They are one of the most common types of suns..."

Yaden raised his hands in defeat. "Yes, love, I know, you lectured me once already."

To him the dim sun had felt funny, but he wasn't really able to put that feeling into words while his daughter had no problem coming up with a whole lot of words to tell him why it was a perfectly fine sun. The important part was that there were no habitable planets in the system. One had long ago been strip mined by someone, but right now the system was deserted, so they would be able to use it to jump in and out through the gate unobserved.

With Myriam's equipment packed up, they headed back to the Pebble. This gate was categorized as a 'monkey gate' by the Empire's scientists. It had no internal gravity, but lots of handholds inside the access tunnel and the control room. According to Myriam there were 23 different types of gates humanity had discovered so far. Even after nearly 3000 years of studying them, it was still a mystery how exactly they worked. It had been thought that at least the controls had been mostly understood until Yaden and Ivan brought back the 'long distance codes' from their visit to the Calarni. Now the Emperor's science team wasn't sure anymore what else the gates might be capable off.

If it really was the Nosoti who had built them, Yaden thought that they probably still had a lot to discover.

They quickly made their way over to where Pebble was parked close to the gate's access portal. The system they were currently in had two habitable planets which were mainly settled by one of the many alien species they had already seen on Diatomee, but there were enclaves of other species on both planets. Several moons of planets more distant from the sun had mining bases on them. One of those moons was orbiting the planet furthest from the sun, close enough to the gate that they might have noticed Pebble. Since Yaden didn't want to draw attention, they had kept Pebble cloaked while flying, but here on the jumpgate they were far enough out that they didn't need to hide her.

They had spent about five hours inside the gate so they were all rather surprised to find several blinking alarms on the command consoles when they got back to Pebble's bridge.

"This is a distress signal from that mining base close to us." Ivan said after a quick check. "It's just an automated call for help, no idea what..."

"I can answer that." Myriam interrupted him with a grim frown. "Scanners show multiple Terran vessels closing in on that moon."

Yaden immediately closed his eyes and cast out his senses. The sun, planets and moons of a system were always present in his perception like distant specks. Actually touching them with his mind required a lot more attention and power. Extending his range was one of the many things he was training. The moon wasn't too far away, but Yaden was looking for something else now. If there were Terrans approaching that moon, they probably weren't the only ones in the system.

It felt like he was stretching himself to a thin thread, but he managed to reach as far as the moon colonies closer to the two inhabited planets. What he found made his heart grow cold. Wreckage and more Terran ships. Many more. There was a whole fleet of them spread throughout the system. Suddenly he was grateful he couldn't see those planets, see what sure the Terrans were doing to them.

"Do we get involved?" Ivan asked, his voice sounding small and distant to Yaden.

It was a fair question. This really wasn't their war. While Sarisha might despise the Terrans, even she and the Quicksilvers didn't get involved in the war between the Terrans and the rest of the sentient species of this galaxy. They only defended themselves when they had to, staying hidden as much as they could. Still it felt just like the Calarni all over to Yaden. Fighting against a tyrannical race, hell bend on ruling the galaxy. Worse even - where the Calarni had wanted absolute control the Terrans wanted to obliterate. That the evil in his case were humans didn't change how Yaden felt. Maybe he could not win a war against the Terrans, but he wouldn't stand by idle while they slaughtered innocents.

"Yes." He answered bluntly. "Get us to that moon."

He pulled back his attention to concentrate on the Terran vessels, who by now were swinging into a high orbit above the mining base. They got into some sort of formation and Yaden felt sudden fear choke him. He'd seen this before, right before the Terrans had destroyed the jumpgate they had arrived through in this galaxy. Frantically he flung out his mind, trying to reach for those vessels with not just his senses but the full extent of his powers.

Then he screamed, both in his mind and in the flesh, as the Terran vessels fired on the defenceless base. He felt the destructive energy of their weapons rip into the base and the moon itself, felt it like it was his own body being hit. It hurt on so many levels, his mind, his heart, his very soul bleeding.

The pain, too late, was enough to fully bring him out there, able to get a grip. With a howl mindless rage he grasped one of the Terran ships and hurled it into two more. The blossoming explosions only fuelled his fury. He needed to rip, to shred, to destroy what had caused so much anguish. Metal bending into insane shapes, wrenched apart, crashing into each other, tearing until nothing but scraps was left - it felt good, it was right.

He was dimply aware that someone was talking to him, touching his own body, but that was unimportant. All that mattered was obliterating those who had so mindlessly killed innocents.

But then he felt arms wrap around his body. "Dad! Dad, stop! Please!" Myriam's voice pleaded, pulling him back into his body, back from the brink.

He was breathing hard, he realized. The thunder in his ears was his own blood, his heart beating fast with his terrible rage. He did not want to stop. It wasn't enough.

Yaden looked down at Myriam and the rage froze in his veins. She was crying, terrified. She had seen what he had done. What he was capable of doing, capable of becoming. No one but Ivan had seen him like this. He had thought he had left this darker side of himself behind with his return to Colin, but apparently it was still lurking beneath the surface, waiting for a chance to break free.

The thought that his beloved daughter would fear him broke his heart. He wanted to say something to reassure her, but couldn't find any words.

"Dad?" she said softly. Looking up at him her gaze was changing - from fear to relief and than to love.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered wrapping his own arms around her. "I.. I never wanted to scare you. I..."

She held him tighter in return. "I know what it feels like." She answered and then buried her face against his chest. "I love you, dad. I always will." She muttered.

He held her as she cried and felt tears running down his own face as well. Of course she did. The same she had felt when she had defended her father, before Yaden and Ivan had found her. That he had reminded her of that terrible day made him ache even more.

Looking over to Ivan, he found his friend looking relieved as well. They didn't need to speak for Yaden to know that Ivan would have found a way to knock him out, should he have lost himself even more. Like he had done once when they fought the Calarni and Yaden had stopped caring whether he hurt friend or foe. He smiled tightly. This time he had come out of it much easier at least. Maybe we wasn't in full control yet, but he was getting better.

Myriam freed herself from his embrace and bravely wiped tears from her face with the sleeve of her shirt. Then she punched him in the ribs hard. "Damn it, dad! Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

She was, without any doubt, the most awesome daughter any father could ever ask for.

"I promise I will try." Yaden replied. Maybe not quite the reassurance she wanted, but he would not lie to her.

"Good enough." She grumbled and returned to her own station.

Again Yaden looked over to Ivan. He did not dare cast out his mind again, afraid of what he would find. "What's the status out there?" he asked instead.

"The base is destroyed." Ivan answered, only a hint of his own anger audible in his voice. "We are still a way out, but I don't think there were any survivors. There definitely aren't any Terran survivors."

Of that Yaden was certain as well. "Let's still check. Maybe someone was far enough out from the base to survive the blast." He said.

"What about the rest of the system?" Myriam asked.

Yaden wasn't sure he wanted to know. He was pretty sure he didn't want his daughter to see whatever atrocities the Terrans had committed on those two inhabited planets. "There is a fleet of Terran ships further in." He answered cautiously.

He couldn't see Myriam's face, but he noticed how her shoulders tensed up. "Do you think... should we look if there is anything we can do?" she asked.

Yaden exchanged another look with Ivan. He could read on his friend's face that he thought they shouldn't get involved and that at the same time he felt like they couldn't just leave. It was none of their business. And on the other hand it was. It just was what a Phoenix Knight did - help wherever possible. No matter how much he wanted to spare his daughter the horrors they might witness, she would not appreciate his care.

"We should check, yes." He decided with a heavy heart.

It did not take them long to reach the moon base. Like they had feared, they didn't find any survivors. The weapons used by the Terrans had left nothing but a deep crater where the base had been. A thorough scan of the moon showed no life signs.

Myriam then programmed the jumpdrive for a short hop to the core of the system. It was crawling with Terrans, but Pebble emerged cloaked from the jump and far enough out from one of the two planets that they didn't run any danger of detection.

It was even worse than Yaden had feared. He had expected the Terrans to come as conquerors, but instead they seemed more interested in destruction than in capturing new planets. The surface of the planet was a devastated, lifeless wasteland. Yaden was sure even the planet itself hurt from the attack, but he carefully avoided extending his senses.

"Why would they do that?" Myriam asked, stunned and sad at the same time.

"That's what people do when they follow orders blindly." Ivan answered, before Yaden could find proper words.

Myriam's next question was even harder to answer. "Can't we... do something?"

"There is only three of us and a whole empire of them." Yaden said gently. "As much as I want to - this is not our fight. We are needed at home, too."

He watched as he daughter heaved a heavy sigh. "This sucks." She finally summed up, very unhappily.

That they all agreed on. The rest of their jumpgate studies happened in a much more sombre mood.


	15. Chapter 15

Walking through Diatomee's corridors, Yaden saw her inhabitants with other eyes, now that he had witnessed first hand what the Terrans were capable of. No one here on the station seemed to care, and if they did, they surely didn't plan to act on it. These people, in all their cheerful violence, were - at the end of the day - criminals. They cared only about themselves. Even Sarisha and her Quicksilvers. The war happening out there was no more than a nuisance to them.

And still, even though none of them felt any urge to get involved, he silently wished they would. With their diverse talents and penchant for violence, they could have made a difference. He was fully aware that there really wasn't anything he could do to change that. And still there was that nagging feeling that he had to.

Sometimes being a Phoenix Knight really was no fun.

He was on his way to William's apartment to let Colin and Darren know that they were back. They had once more found refuge with the bistro owner while the Pebble had been jumpgate hunting, paying rent in the form of Darren babysitting the unruly lot of kittens together with the twins.

They had visited a few more jumpgates and finally come across another slug gate. Removing the interface and control consoles without damaging them had proved quite a challenge and it had taken a combination of Yaden's powers to part metal and Myriam's tinkering to get them what they needed. But now they had some carefully packaged parts on Pebble which Myriam planed to install on the Diatomee gate.

Ivan had commented with gleeful mocking that now Myriam was just as bad a thief as the ones who had salvaged the Diatomee gate.

Yaden had been deeply grateful that Myriam and Ivan had returned to their playful bickering. As far as he could see his daughter had not sustained any lasting damage from witnessing the Terrans' actions. Yaden himself was another story. He felt like he really needed a firm hug from his husband and to curl up with Colin and tell him at length what had happened and how he felt about it. He was scared of what he might turn into and Colin was his anchor.

It was Darren who opened the door when Yaden knocked at William's apartment. He was unburdened with any sleeping or snarling kids for a change and smiled warmly when he saw Yaden.

"Welcome back." He said and opened the door wider for Yaden to come in. "How was your trip? Did you find what Myriam was looking for?"

For a moment Yaden didn't know how to answer that. Yes, they had found what Myriam needed, but how was he to explain the rest of it? He should have known that Darren would notice the shadow passing over his face.

"Yaden? Are you okay?" Darren asked, much more softly now and stepped closer to him, looming large and protective over Yaden.

"I... I'm not sure." Yaden answered truthfully. It was pointless to try and lie to Darren. It had never worked in the past.

"Something bad happened." Darren concluded calmly.

Yaden closed his eyes and leaned his brow against Darren's broad chest. "Yes." He said simply. Maybe it wasn't Colin's embrace he needed after all. Maybe right now he needed his nanny back.

Strong arms wrapped around him. "Tell me about it." Darren coaxed gently.

"We encountered Terrans. They attacked innocents. I..." Yaden remembered vividly how good it had felt to tear their fragile ships to shreds. "Darren, did you ever think about what would happen if I lost control?" he asked softly. "What kind of a monster I might become...?"

"Oh my boy." Darren's arms hugged him tighter. "Never. There is too much light inside you to ever let you be a monster."

He sounded utterly sure, but Yaden had his doubts. "But it has happened before. When I fought the Calarni. And now again. I'm not sure what would have happened if Ivan hadn't been there to stop me. And now Myriam."

"But they did stop you." Darren argued gently. "And they will keep doing so. You trust Ivan to have your back in a fight. This is the same thing."

"What if he's not there to stop me? What if I... "

"He will be." Darren interrupted him. "And if he's not... I know you might lose yourself briefly, but never long enough to hurt innocents." Darren chuckled darkly. "I'd more expect it to happen to Ivan, actually. He revels in destruction, occasionally. You are a builder, Yaden."

Yaden sighed. "It scares me." He said.

"As long as it scares you, you'll be fine." Darren said. "When you start not caring anymore is when I'm going to have to put you over my knee."

The mental image made Yaden laugh. "Promise you will."

Darren unwrapped him from his embrace and held him at arms length. "You have my solemn promise that I will give you a good trashing if you ever lose sight of what you wish to be."

The simple fact that Darren cared and that he was still keeping a watchful eye proved enough to reassure Yaden. Maybe he would have grown up to be a monster without his nanny, but Darren had raised him too well for it to happen now. If nothing else he owed it to Darren to be the best he could.

"So, where's Colin?" Yaden asked, his thoughts returning to the most important person in his life.

"Having lunch with Doctor Hauser." Darren answered.

For a moment Yaden had no clue who Darren was talking about until he remembered that Hauser was actually Jenny's family name and that Darren of course would refer to her by her proper title and name. So his husband was still dating Jenny. Considering that they had been gone for nearly two weeks, Yaden guessed that by now Colin would have a much clearer idea on where this budging relationship was headed. Yaden couldn't quite suppress the hopeful flutter of his heart.

"At the Chez Chantale?" he asked.

Darren chuckled. "Since Colin really isn't a huge fan of the Nutri Bar & Grill I'm pretty sure you'll find them at the bistro, yes."

The Nutri Bar & Grill served nurtibars in different styles. Grilled, cooked, dissolved in water as drinks - any disgusting way to present them could be found there. Just walking past it made Yaden's stomach clench with nausea. Nutribars in this galaxy were even worse then their Phoenix Empire counterpart. Where those at home simple didn't taste of anything, those over here had an acrid, metallic after taste somewhere between rot and toothpaste.

"The kids are asleep right now, so you can't see the twins." Darren continued. "I'll stay and look after them until William gets home, before I take Vian and Siva back to Pebble." He looked back at the living room. "I have to say that it has done both of them a world of good to have someone their own age to play with. I'll have to look into finding something like a playgroup for them once we get home."

Yaden had never felt comfortable around other children and Myriam didn't get along with kids her own age either, so he had never really considered that the twins might need someone. But if Darren said that it was so, he would trust that judgement. "Sure." He agreed. "Maybe in Disari? Or the palace? Whatever they need I'll get them."

Darren smiled. "I know." He made shooing gestures towards the door. "Go. Find Colin."

Yaden had already opened the door when another thought crossed his mind. "Uhm, Darren? Can I ask you one more thing?"

Darren smiled. "Of course."

"Jenny... I mean, Doctor Hauser... what do you think of her?"

"She'll make a fine wife." Darren answered earnestly, making Yaden blush violently. Of course Darren knew.

Before he could say any more much too insightful things, Yaden fled. It didn't take him long to get from the apartment to the Chez Chantale since William lived close to his bistro.

He easily spotted Colin and Jenny at a small table for two in the middle of the lunch time crowd. They had finished eating and now were talking with their heads close together. They looked like the most adorable couple, freshly in love. It would have been the perfect set up for some intense holo-novella style jealousy scene. Only Yaden didn't feel jealous at all - he felt hopeful.

He wove his way through the crowd, looking for a free chair he might be able to snag on his way. Jenny noticed him first and waved and smiled. Colin on the other hand suddenly looked rather guilty for a moment, making Yaden wonder what he had missed.

"Hey, love, I'm back." Yaden greeted his husband.

Colin smiled at him credibly enough and leaned forward for a kiss, when Yaden settled at their table. "Welcome back, honey. Did you get the parts you were looking for?"

Yaden nodded. "Yeah." He replied and at the same time decided to keep the more in depth report of their encounter with the Terrans for later, when they were alone. "So what's been happening here?"

Once more there was a quick, guilty glance towards Jenny, who seemed entirely unfazed. Yaden didn't know what to make of it. After all they had agreed beforehand that Colin could flirt and date with the pretty Doctor to his heart's content.

So Yaden added a second question: "What's with the guilty looks?"

That brought a triumphant grin to Jenny's face. "Ha! I told you he would notice!" She exclaimed happily. "He's a smart guy!"

Colin on the other hand looked much less thrilled. Yaden had no idea why he would be so worried, but he trusted his husband, so he patiently waited, while Colin looked for words. "Well, uh... you see..." he finally started on an explanation, only to be immediately interrupted by Jenny.

"I'm pregnant." she announced calmly.

The last time a female had told him that it had ended in heartbreak, disaster and way too many deaths. It hit Yaden like a hammer and his mind desperately scrambled after the words.

"From Colin." Jenny added. "Yes, I'm sure. I'm a doctor."

Yaden looked from her to Colin. This was definitely more than what they had agreed on. Way more.

"YOU GOT HER PREGNANT?!" Yaden finally found his voice, his outburst silencing all conversations around them. "What happened to honourable intentions?! Seriously, if you weren't my husband I would duel you over her honour, now!"

Now it was Jenny's turn to look genuinely shocked. That Colin did look so guilty mollified Yaden a little. At least he was aware of his misdeeds.

"I was cooking for her. At her apartment." Colin tried to explain, both hands raised in a defensive gesture. "We talked, we missed you, there was a lot of wine..."

The silence around them continued and all three of them were keenly aware that they were the centre of attention. While Jenny looked like she was merely uncomfortable, Colin seemed ready to crawl under a rock. It was obvious how bad he was feeling, even though Yaden wasn't entirely sure whether he was feeling worse about being stared at or about having disappointed Yaden. Probably the latter.

Yaden drew a deep breath. There really was only one thing left to do now. Maybe it was too soon and probably it wasn't right to put Jenny into this position right here right now, but he felt like he at least had to make it plain that neither he nor Colin would shun responsibility for the unborn child.

He picked up a dessert spoon from the table and quickly bent it to a new shape. He'd have to pay William for it later. Jenny made a choked sound and her hands flew to her face when Yaden got to one knee in front of her.

"Doctor Jenny Hauser, I and my husband Colin are enchanted by your beauty, wit and bravery. We have, each of us in our way, fallen in love with you. Will you marry us?" he asked and offered her the simple ring he had just made.

Jenny made a sound that could only be called a squeak and one of her hands fluttered uselessly while she was too stunned to form an answer. Yaden waited patiently.

"Oi! Asshole! You can't just go and steal one of our doctors!" Someone from their audience shouted and immediately was clubbed down by someone else.

That was enough to shock Jenny out of her stupor. "Oh dear me, Yaden..." she muttered. "You... I...you really don't have to marry me just because I'm pregnant."

Now it was Colin's turn to speak. He gently took her hand. "Jenny, we really do love you. We've talked about this. This... being pregnant, it's just a wonderful excuse to speed things up."

"Oh..." Jenny looked back and forth between Yaden and Colin, but then that amazing smile reappeared on her face. "Well, in that case... Yes!" She held out her hand to Yaden with all the graze of a queen and Yaden couldn't help grinning like a fool when he pushed the ring onto her finger.

"So that's how humans mate..." Some hulking, slimy blob alien at the table next to them commented with earnest fascination.


	16. Chapter 16

"Hey, you there! Asshole! Stop!"

Yaden simultaneously flinched and ducked when he heard the raspy voice behind him. Since he had proposed to Jenny, he had done his best to avoid her boss, Irtamen. Even without Jenny confirming it, he had been sure that she would be extremely pissed off at the fact that Yaden was stealing away her highly skilled assistant.

At least most of Jenny's friends here on the station seemed happy for her, instead of annoyed at losing a great doctor.

Jenny herself, on the other hand, was delighted. Basically, there seemed to be nothing about coming home with Yaden and Colin that she didn't like. Her words on the topic had been something like "Getting off this god-forsaken rust bucket to marry a fucking knight and get to a galaxy where I can attend as many additional university courses as I please without having to be approved by some thought police shithead? Hell yeah!"

They had shown her pictures of the island which had resulted in her making cooing sounds and kissing both of them. Yaden still marvelled at how different her kisses were from Colin's. Sweet and soft and sometimes quite toothy and demanding. He knew Colin so well that he could almost always tell what his husband would say or do next. Jenny was one pleasant surprise after the other.

Myriam had approved of the fact that they were bringing home a female who she could talk science with, but she had also made it very clear that she would accept no 'mothering' from Jenny and that Yaden and Colin remained her actual parents who she would listen to. Depending on her judgement of how correct their demands were, of course.

Jenny had accepted this, commenting that she would have reacted the same at Myriam's age. Obviously she hoped Myriam would change her mind in time, but considering she had kids to convince who needed a mother much more than Myriam did, she wasn't too worried.

The twins were deeply suspicious of her. Vian at least allowed her to pick him up, but he remained tense and wanted back down. Siva clung to Yaden stubbornly whenever she was in Jenny's presence and refused to even look at her. Jenny accepted the challenge with good humour. She considered it a good opportunity to work on her maternal charms in the nine months before her own baby would be born.

The fact that they would have another baby crawling around the island delighted both Yaden and Colin. Whenever all three of them were together they inevitably started discussing possible names for the boy or girl. Jenny had warned them that the likelihood of her ever having a psychic child was extremely low, since psion genes were recessive and had been bred out of her part of humanity for centuries. Neither of them cared. Both Vian and Siva were almost certainly strong psions. That would give them more than enough to deal with in psychic children.

They had also at length explained that they were not exactly rich, but she hadn't seemed worried about that at all, muttering something about making tons of cash with her superior medical know-how and then using said cash to buy pretty gifts for her pretty trophy husbands. Compared to him and Colin she was quite ruthless. They stayed away from the cut-throat imperial court as much as possible, but somehow Yaden was sure that Jenny would thrive there once she had acclimated. Like everyone else on Diatomee, she was a criminal at heart and they'd probably have to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't slip down that slope too far. She'd probably make an even better Dracon than Colin.

When they had told her that, she had laughed that utterly charming, innocent laugh and promised to be worthy of their expectations.

Her utter confidence was infectious.

So Yaden drew a brave breath and turned to face the grim, old Thanaris. "Doctor Irtamen, how may I help you?" He asked politely.

"Fuck you, skinsack!" She growled back.

Compared to her daughter Sarisha, Irtamen was tiny, but she was still a little taller than Yaden and her claws and teeth looked very sharp for her age. Definitely not someone Yaden wanted to mess with. Even more so since it would have aggravated everyone else if he hurt her.

"I know you have been hiding from me!" She pointed one extended claw at him accusingly.

That was true. As of yet, Yaden had managed not to run into her. But now they were getting ready to leave. Myriam had finished her repairs on the Diatomee jumpgate and was sufficiently sure that it would bring them home safely.

Geoff had been woken up from his artificial coma several days ago, but he was still confined to the medbay until Irtamen had catalogued every last piece of cyberware the Terrans had crammed into his body and was entirely sure there was nothing harmful in there and - even more importantly - nothing the Terrans could use to gain control of their missing archangel again. Geoff had sent a message through Sarisha, that he would really appreciate a visit from the people who had risked their lives to save him. To say thank you in person. That was not a request Yaden could deny.

So here he was and of course Irtamen had jumped him the moment he entered the medbay.

"Just so we are clear, boytoy," she hissed, stepping so close to Yaden, that he could smell raw meat on her breath, "if you do anything to hurt my little girl, anything whatsoever, I will find you, I will kill you and I will eat you."

It was definitely no idle threat. Yaden had no doubt that she meant every word of what she said. He answered accordingly. "I will do everything in my power to make her happy." He promised solemnly.

Her eyes turned to slits. "Will you now?" She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity. Then she turned on her heels and strode off, apparently satisfied with the message she had delivered.

Yaden closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Crisis averted. That had been easier than he had expected. Then again Irtamen would be aware of how much Jenny would object to her eating Yaden without a very good reason. However grim and dangerous she might be, Yaden was sure that Irtamen only wanted the best for Jenny.

He continued on his way to the intensive care ward of the medbay. It was normally reserved for critical patients, but now it also housed Geoff since it also had the best surveillance and highest amount of monitoring equipment that could be hooked up to Geoff.

The last time Yaden had seen Geoff, the Quicksilver pilot turned archangel, had still been unconscious and displayed on the medical table of the central operations room of the medbay. He had been bruised and covered in angry red, fresh scars. Now he found Geoff sitting in his bed and watching some sort of holo action video on a small, handheld device. The tall, dark skinned man looked a lot better than when they had stolen him from the Terrans. He had gained some weight and all of his wounds looked well healed. The fact that he was smiling at whatever it was he was watching also made his face look a lot friendlier than it had when it was covered by a sheen of gold and cast in a grim, stern archangel expression.

Geoff looked up when Yaden knocked on the glass door, leading to his room. Even though they had never really met yet, he seemed to recognize Yaden. He smiled widely and waved Yaden to come in.

"Wow, you really are as short as Sarisha says!" He greeted Yaden, when he entered the room.

Used to that reaction, Yaden smiled. "Yes. I am. It's great to see you awake and yourself."

"Oh, believe me, no one is happier about that than I." Geoff answered and gestured for Yaden to take a seat in the visitor's chair. "And it's great to see the man I owe that to in person, at last. Thank you for coming down. I know you much be really busy, getting ready to go home and all."

"Didn't want to leave without meeting the actual you." Yaden replied and settled on the chair. "Sarisha says you're doing much better?"

"Yeah, I actually feel completely normal. I've even figured out how to turn off all the additional displays in my eyes." Geoff chuckled.

He seemed laid back and very calm, despite all the things that had been done to him. Yaden could easily see how he would be a calming influence on Sarisha as well. Something she sorely needed, judging by the frequency with which she got in various brawls all over the station.

"Irtamen still insists I stay here, though." Geoff continued. "I'm really quite bored. I miss flying."

Yaden nodded. Being sick was a nightmare to him as well. He recalled with dread how he had been down with some child sickness on Pandora and Darren had him quarantined to his room for over a week. His mother's fortress had been snowed in and he had been in no condition to shoo the storm away so they'd had to wait for a natural break in the weather for the local Aroona priest to reach them.

"You have my sympathy." Yaden said. "But considering what you were like when we found you I have to agree with her.

Geoff groaned. "Yeah. About that... I watched the footage my internal camera recorded of that fight. Damn, I was so lucky you were there. I doubt anyone else would have been able to take me out without killing me."

"Glad I was able to help." Yaden replied. Then a thought crossed his mind. "Say, can you make a copy of that footage for me? We are collecting all data we can get our grabby little hands on for our folks at home. Watching an archangel in combat would surely interest them."

"Sure, I can do that." Geoff immediately agreed. He rummaged in the drawer of his nightstand for a moment and then produced a datachip. Next he inserted in into a socket behind his ear. It took him only a moment's concentration, then he pulled the chip out again and handed it to Yaden. "There you go. All this fancy cyberware does come with some perks."

"That is simultaneously awesome and creepy." Yaden stated.

"I would say the same about your powers." Geoff said with a grin. Then he turned serious. "What I really wanted to say was... if you ever find yourself in need of help from a renegade archangel - you just have to ask. I owe you."

Yaden shrugged. "I'd do it again. I have no idea whether we will come back here eventually, but I will definitely keep your offer in mind."

They shook hands on that and then Yaden said farewell. There was still a lot he needed to do before they would leave tomorrow.

-

The next day Pebble hung in front of the Diatomee jumpgate with the Quicksilvers in tow at a respectful distance. The whole family was assembled on the bridge again, watching the main viewscreen where nothing interesting whatsoever was happening.

"Charge is at 90%." Myriam announced from her station. "Everything looks stable." She gave a little squeak. "Damn! Doing it myself is so much more exciting."

Yaden chuckled at his daughter's enthusiasm. She had checked and re-checked her repairs of the gate about a hundred times before she declared it safe to use. That she was now sure that it would work was enough certainty for Yaden to completely trust her.

"So what will happen if it doesn't work?" Sarisha's voice came over the com. "Will it blow up or something?"

"It will work." Myriam answered calmly. "And if it didn't work you wouldn't notice. We would just be shredded in transit or emerge somewhere we didn't plan to go."

Sarisha snorted. "That is reassuring. I'm so glad we don't have to pass through this thing."

"For someone as tech affine as you, you're quite the pussy." Ivan commented from his station.

Sarisha's reply was a deep growl, followed by the laughter of the other Quicksilvers. "You just dare say that cause I can't rip you up right now." Sarisha grumbled with good humour.

"Agreed." Ivan replied.

"97%." Myriam said. "I suddenly have a real craving for blob-on-a-stick. It will be nice to get home."

"Grilled tuna, fresh from the sea." Ivan purred.

"Roasted Malicorn pig." Yaden added.

"Eve's mint-chocolate pudding." Colin groaned.

They all laughed.

"I see I will eat well in my new home." Jenny commented with a happy smile and snuggled closer into Colin's arm.

"And we are ready to go." Myriam looked over to Yaden. "Any last words, dad?"

"It was great meeting all of you." Yaden addressed the Quicksilvers. "Thank you for the hospitality. We look forward to coming here again."

"Thank you for all the help." Sarisha answered. "Safe travels!" Her last two words were echoed by the other Quicksilvers.

"Ready." Yaden told Myriam.

She activated the gate and the familiar shimmer appeared inside it. With a gently nudge, Yaden moved Pebble forward. The same strange feeling of being stretched thin as with the last jump occurred and then they safely emerged back in Phoenix Empire space.


	17. Chapter 17

"A princess from a distant and mysterious world?" Colin looked up from the page he was reading to stare at Jenny incredulously. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Jenny smiled back serenely. "It means that this time Yaden is getting married to a noble, cause another commoner would look kind of odd on his resume."

"Ugg. You really shouldn't let the PR team talk you into this kind of shit." Colin grumbled and tossed the page back onto the dinner table.

It was covered in folders of various sizes, spilling densely printed pages and glossy photos all over. Jenny had brought the mess back from her lengthy meeting with the PR team where they had discussed the upcoming wedding. Now she, Yaden and Colin were seated around the table and Jenny was reporting what plans they had made.

After the meltdown Colin had had before their wedding and considering the fact that pretty much everyone considered the PR team a well disguised demon incursion, Yaden had expected the worst.

But Jenny had returned full of cheer. She had immediately drafted them into this talk.

"No, no, that was my suggestion." She now explained. "It will give me a much better starting position in the imperial court. If I am a princess from far away they can't properly judge my rank which means they will all be real careful, just to be on the safe side."

Yaden snickered while Colin looked like Jenny had described something supremely disgusting. He hated politics and that Jenny actually seemed to look forward to getting involved in court intrigue horrified him.

"Plus, I've seen footage of your Emperor's wedding." Jenny continued, oblivious to Colin's misgivings. "I love the cathedral. So pretty. I'll look so awesome in a proper princess wedding gown, standing there, with all the guests watching me and envying me cause I get to marry a freaking Phoenix Knight AND one of the prettiest men of the Empire."

"Wait... what...?" Yaden and Colin exchanged a slightly panicked look. "Cathedral...?"

"Yes!" Jenny fished around on the table until she found a large photo of the interior of the grand St. Agatha Cathedral in Imperial City. "Isn't it just absolutely awesome. Just look at those windows! We have nothing even remotely as grand at home. It's all just ugly grey boxes. Just imagine me walking down the aisle... Which reminds me, we still need to figure out who will walk me to the altar. I want someone older, respectable, but not too striking so he won't distract people from me."

"Uh." Colin commented not very eloquently.

Yaden reached for his husband's hand under the table and squeezed it reassuringly. Jenny was on a roll, apparently, and he doubted there would be anything they could do to stop the combined might of her and the PR team. He could easily picture them, squeeing over each new idea.

"Of course your uncle will officiate the wedding again. The PR team has promised they will work it out with the archbishop of P2 so your uncle will be allowed to borrow the cathedral. Look, we can put camera teams here, and here, and up here." She pointed out spots inside the cathedral. "Same as on the Emperor's wedding. Obviously there won't be as many commoners, so we won't need live view screens outside. I suggested we give away a few special invitations to random commoners. To win in a lottery or something. They will be so grateful!"

"Uhu." Yaden agreed cautiously. That actually did sound sort of nice. In a weird way. "I guess the PR team has a list of guests that will fill the cathedral? I mean, it is kind of... big..."

Jenny laughed merrily. "But of course, sweety." She leaned over and kissed him on the nose like he was some sort of adorable pet. "Don't you worry, we have all of that covered. Basically you just have to show up to the actual wedding. We'll take care of the rest."

Colin threw another panicked glance to Yaden, then he got up abruptly. "Excuse, I... just get a drink..." he muttered and headed off towards the kitchen.

"This is our first sketch for the wedding gown..." Jenny continued unperturbed and dug a rather detailed drawing from the pile.

It did look beautiful, Yaden had to admit. With a laced bodice, long, flowing sleeves and huge skirts billowing into a long train. Jenny would look stunning in it. She would make an incredible princess and bride. And it obviously was what she wanted. What would make her happy. Maybe that was worth all the hassle.

"So here is the kicker," Jenny explained, "the dress will be white, of course. But it will be made from a special fabric, so once the ceremony is over, it will change to black, with a red dragon embroidered on the front and myriad tiny golden phoenixes in the train. Isn't that just awesome?!"

She beamed at Yaden with such exuberant joy Yaden couldn't help smiling back at her. She looked so radiantly beautiful and happy.

Yes, it definitely would be worth it.


End file.
